Mayr-Melnhof Packaging (MMP) have a facility in Bootle - in Feb 2012 they decided they needed to make 50 redundancies - they announced the reasoning, Unite promptly brought it members out on strike. They started to picket the site which resulted in conflicts so serious the police were called and the workers locked out - the first lock out of a print facility for 50 years.

The company duly issued the 50 redundancies in March - unite continued to kick off about how their chapel bosses had been selected etc and now MMP have decided to close the plant resulting in 150 redundancies.

If Unite had accepted the 50 redundancies in the first place >100 others would have kept their jobs - a great example of Unite in action, really working for its members!! No worry McClusky, Burke and Sibbald will just hop in the mercs from this shambles to next. If I were the tanker drivers I would not let these muppets anywhere near the talks.

Stupid people.

I've highlighted the word "print" because I'd guessed that MMP would be a printers before I reached that part.

As you know "SP" the job I do involves me getting involved with the working practices of many and varied types of businesses all over the country from virtually every business sector and I've been doing the job for nearly 30 years now.

Of all the business sectors that I visit there is only one now that stick to the 1960s principles of unionisation, demarcation, and an "us and them" attitude and that is the printing trade. My uncle was a litho printer all his life and apparently it was a skilled job during his time although if you ressurected him and placed him in the same job now he would tell you that his skills had been made redundant by computers - but he'd still expect the same wage scales, shift premiums, job demarcation, etc, etc, etc - and here's the rub, he was a dyed in the wool Tory party member until the day he died but he'd still walk out if the union told him to.

Litho/Web print is still a highly skilled job which is still very well paid - the fact you turn virgin paper into a 32 page booklet in 2/3 seconds is pretty amazing.

We are lucky we don't have any union presence in the sites I am involved in - 2 years ago we introduced flexible labour into the plant - surprise surprise we started to improve profitability - at the time there were 5 Litho sites - 4 had union control and no flexibility and one didn't one didn't - no the company has one Litho site - guess which one it is!!

Really? Just like that, eh?

I suggest you need to think about the link between what you actually post and the facts - or are you really saying that it is was an illegal strike?

I've said before and I will say again, unions need to realise that if a company cannot sustain the current level of employees - for whatever economic reason - then redundancies sadly have to be made so that the company can survive.

50 redundancies out of 150 people is better than going bust and putting all 150 out of work.

While directors are awarding themselves mega-buck bonuses?

Where did I say that?

Strangely enough, you didn't, I did

Then you're an idiot, because no one has suggested that this is the case, here.

Responsible directors DO exist, you know.