PRESS RELEASE

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Monday 14^th December 2009

Immediate Release

Attention: News desk, Industrial and Political Correspondents

GMB PROTEST AT TATA SPONSORED UTILITY AWARDS CALLED OFF AFTER GMB ADVISED THAT AN AGREEMENT HAS BEEN REACHED WITH TEA WORKERS IN INDIA

GMB members in National Grid are angry with the outsourcing of jobs from Newcastle upon Tyne and that the campaign against this goes on says GMB

GMB have today called off a protest outside the Tata sponsored Utility Industry achievement awards in London on Monday 14^th December after GMB were advised by Tata that an agreement had been reached in a dispute in India with tea workers in West Bengal. GMB has no details of the agreement and international officers of the union are is in touch with the international Union of Food workers in Geneva on the issue.

GMB wrote in November to National Grid regarding the outsourcing jobs from Newcastle upon Tyne to Tata in India who had been accused of trying to starve Indian tea workers back to work through a lock out.

National Grid confirmed 8^th October 09 that there would be over 300 job losses in the company. The Newcastle site will be closed with a loss of 189 jobs in total of which 163 are permanent jobs. The other 137 job losses will be at the Warwick and Northampton sites. The Newcastle jobs are being outsourced to Tata in India.

The international Union of Food workers has told GMB that Tata, the transnational Indian conglomerate whose Tetley Group makes the world famous Tetley teas, has taken 6,500 people hostage through hunger. The hostages are nearly 1,000 tea plantation workers and their families on the Nowera Nuddy Tea Estate in West Bengal, India. Permanently living on the edge of hunger, the workers and their dependants are being pushed to the edge of starvation through an extended lock out which has deprived them of wages for all but two days since the beginning of August. The goal of this collective punishment is to starve the workers into renouncing their elementary human rights, including the right to protest extreme abuse and exploitation.

Gary Smith GMB National Secretary for Energy said “I have been informed that an agreement has been reached in the tea workers dispute and that the tea gardens have reopened and as a consequence GMB will not now be going ahead with this demonstration.

I want to make it clear that GMB members in National Grid are angry with the outsourcing of jobs from Newcastle upon Tyne and that the campaign against this goes on.”

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Contact: Gary Smith, GMB National Secretary on 07710 618909 or Bert Schouwenburg 07974 251 764 or GMB Press Office: Steve Pryle on 07921 289880 or Rose Conroy on 07974 251823.