I like to think that I am brave. I like to think that I have courage. But what I witnessed today humbled me.

A small Latino woman whose arm was so badly burned lifting out a high, heavy tray of scalding food, burned her arm really badly and whilst bleeding on the floor, was not allowed to go off shift. Another diagnosed with cancer who was told the day before she was no longer required. Workers who have recently had their precious hours cut, meaning they will all have to work harder in their second jobs just to make ends meet, all because they spoke to the union. Workers who on $8.50 an hour have no health insurance unless they pay $100 a week. Workers with no pension provision unless they pay for it. Workers with no job security and who live in constant fear of a management who “like to intimidate us just for fun”. These are really brave courageous people who knew they were being glared at by managers just for talking to our delegation, as is their right, when on their own break time.

By going to the managers of the Sodexo contract at George Mason University in Washington DC to demand that the company recognises the Service Employees International Union as their union, they risk far more than we, from the CGT in France and UNISON in the UK can ever imagine.

This was all in the land of the ‘free’. Free to do what? Allow capitalism, raw in tooth and claw, rip the dignity and humanity out of their loyal and dedicated workers? What about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Article 23(4) says “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his or her interests” .Why is that not upheld in the USA today?.

The workers we met spoke with pride of the work they do and the commitment they have to a quality service. They don’t ask for the earth – justice, respect and the right to decent terms and conditions is all they want. But it is profit, that is the altar of greed for companies that don’t care about their workers and would not even take a petition from them today when they asked for their basic human rights.

They were the bravest of the brave and I was honoured to have met them.