Nearly 300 Jobs Lost As Frome's Biggest Employer Shuts

[whole diary]

[Lee]

All 287 staff at Butler and Tanner Printers, Frome's biggest employer, have lost their jobs after a shock decision by bosses this weekend to close operations immediately (links below.)
http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=20493500&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=20494669&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

The news came as negotiations between the union Unite and Butler and Tanner were taking place at conciliation service ACAS in Bristol.

Unite said an average salary of ^1,200 was due to each employee this month.

The letters received by staff stated the company was unable to invoice sufficient work to pay this month's wages and strict security had been imposed at the site.

The factory gates are now bolted shut and it is understood only a skeleton staff has been kept on to help wind-up operations.

Frome Town Council chairman Brian Potter said:

"It's a huge blow for the town. In fact, it's catastrophic.

"Factories in the area have been closing and losing staff for years. The printers was our biggest employer."

[Lee]

Printers have vowed to fight the management behind their redundancies all the way to the courts in a battle to reclaim unpaid wages and pension contributions (link below.)
http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=243687&home=yes&more_nodeId1=242222&contentPK=20508868

More than 300 workers from the Butler and Tanner printing factory in Frome turned out for a crisis meeting at the town's football club to decide on an action plan.

Printers have been picketing at the Caxton Road site since workers turned up for weekend shifts only to find gates padlocked and security guards patrolling the grounds.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The closed Butler and Tanner factory could be reopened and its staff rehired after another development in its buy-out saga.

A surprise eleventh-hour bid from a consortium has been accepted by administrators, but a deal on the country's largest colour printing firm is a long way from being completed.

See http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=243687&home=yes&more_nodeId1=242222&contentPK=20989777

[Chris from Nailsea]

Printing firm Butler and Tanner could be relaunched as soon as next week after a publishing entrepreneur stumped up half a million pounds to help a consortium acquire machinery. Felix Dennis, who owns Dennis Publishing, which prints Maxim and Men's Fitness, invested ^500,000 so the group could buy the machinery and equipment that administrators UHY Hacker Young were selling at auction last week.

See http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=21003475&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

[Phil]

Oh, great - the company is in really good hands then!!

It^s not often you get a chance to interview a Billionaire publisher. It^s even more rare that the guy is drunk and confesses to killing someone during the interview.

 The Times of London recently sent a reporter to interview Maxim publisher, Felix Dennis, for its online womens edition. To the the reporter^s surprise, Dennis REALLY opened up to her (probably because he was drunk.)

First, Dennis told her about his fondness for prostitutes. Then he went into his previous crack addiction. Then there was this time he killed a guy^

http://tinyurl.com/6dl4j3