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Check out the sacked workers' website [1].

Urgent support - financial and solidarity - is needed to help the sacked Gate Gourmet workers. Please read and act upon this message. Please circulate it to all the people in your address books. Don't just restrict it to trade unionists - there is a lot of support amongst the public for the workers against this gross injustice.

The first meeting of Hackney's Gate Gourmet support group will be held at the next Hackney Trades Union Council meeting on Tuesday 6th of September at 7.30pm at the Marcon Community Hall (corner of Amhurst Road and Marcon Place, London E8). All trade unionists are welcome.

As you will be aware 670 workers, mostly Asian and half of them women, have been sacked by Gate Gourmet bosses at Heathrow. Gate Gourmet is a multi-national company with its headquarters in the US and is part of the same group who own Burger King - need I say more?!

They deliberately engineered this dispute so they could sack the workers, smash up the union and force BA to pay more for the contract. Although negotiations have been taking place, Gate Gourmet have made it clear they will not take back all the workers, especially any 'militant' workers. Clearly the T&G cannot agree to this, so end of talks.

For full details of the dispute and up-to-date information visit the workers' web site regularly. Many actions are being organised at short notice.

I attended the London-wide support group on Wednesday of this week and it was agreed that there should be a support group in each of the London boroughs organised by trades councils where possible. So please do try to come along - we need people to co-ordinate events, fundraisers, socials, picketing of Burger King and/or Blue Arrow (the agency trying to replace the sacked workers), street collections, leafleting sessions, etc.

How you can help:

• Visit the sacked workers protest at Heathrow. They are there every day from 7am to 7pm. This Sunday,28 August, there is a 'Mass Protest' at 12 noon and we are asked to bring as many people as possible for a 'peaceful protest' and to help keep up the workers morale. Please bring banners, messages of support and any donations. (DIRECTIONS -by public transport take the Piccadilly Line to Hatton Cross and then the free bus to Terminal 4 and either walk or take the free H23 bus (or go direct to terminal 4). By car - take the A30 (off either A4 or A312) go past Hatton Cross Tube station and take the slip road on the left marked Terminal 4, follow this road until you reach a roundabout and take the first left on to the South perimeter Road, after 1/2 mile you will see the sacked workers protest on a small hill).

• Log on to the sacked workers' website [2] website at for up-to-date information on negotiations, events and actions, collection sheets etc.
• Invite the sacked workers to your union meeting - a contact person is being arranged and should be posted on the website soon but in the meantime, contact HTUC for speakers.
• Organise collections for the workers fighting fund - collection sheets are available from the website. Money is important both for morale and because many of the workers and their families will be experiencing hardship.

I will keep you up to date on events and actions.

Hope to see you this Sunday. Make sure that you are represented at the support group meeting on Tuesday 6th September

In solidarity

Jane Holgate

HTUC Secretary