Brave workers have faced down the world’s largest catering firm and secured a massive 44 per cent pay rise.

Compass employees at Ealing Hospital, who were on strike for 11 days, will see their hourly rate rise from £6.31 to £9.10 in a year’s time.

The GMB members will see their wage rise by £1 an hour immediately as part of the deal.

Compass is the world’s biggest catering company. It employs more than 500,000 people in over 50 countries and has a turn over of £17.5 billion. It has 60,000 employees in Britain and Ireland alone.

The dispute arose when Compass took on catering at the hospital nearly five years ago. The firm then created a two tier system of pay for its workers.

Employees who retained their jobs at the hospital but were now employed by Compass were paid their original rates, while new employees were paid 44 per cent less.

The new deal harmonises the pay scales for workers at the hospital.

GMB union said they were celebrating a “massive victory” yesterday.

The union’s senior representative, Bhimraj Rai said: “It has been a long hard fight and GMB members have stuck together throughout the dispute. We never wanted to take strike action but when our employer would not entertain our claim then we had no option other than to strike.”

GMB Regional Organiser, Stella George-Duesbury described how the battle was won.

She said: “The key to the end result was in mobilising and increasing the number of members to be able to have a voice that would be heard.

“There were six GMB members eighteen months ago. The number now exceeds 150. This gave the members the ability and confidence to negotiate and eventually win this dispute.

“We are sure the remaining employees will now see the benefit of joining GMB a strong and campaigning union.”

However GMB’s fight with Compass is not over.

GMB members employed by Compass as chefs in schools across East Sussex will be balloted for strike action unless a 9 per cent cut in pay — a potential loss of £720 per year on a salary of less than £8,000 — is withdrawn.