Guardian Strike Ballot

Unite strike ballot blamed on lack of communication with Guardian Print Centre.

Unite has hit out at a lack of communication from Guardian News and Media (GNM), claiming it has brought the union to the brink of industrial action over the announcement of 27 redundancies at its print site.

Unite members at the Guardian Print Centre (GPC), which announced 27 redundancies earlier this month, are expected to ballot on industrial action next week.

Unite national officer Steve Sibbald, said the proposed action is about ensuring that any redundancies are voluntary.

He said: "They say they want voluntary redundancies, but if there are not the number of voluntaries they need, it is up to them to improve the package. It looks like they are going to be imposing their own criteria for compulsory redundancies and we haven't had any input on that.

"We would want it to be as objective as possible. The problem is they are just not talking to us and that is the reason why we are taking this drastic action."

Sibbald added that, as the plant is fairly new in comparison to several other newspaper print sites, this could mean most of the staff would not be interested in early retirement deals and redundancy packages would not be attractive.