News
Charitable fund set up for former B&T employees
Butler, Tanner & Dennis (BT&D) has set up a £150,000 fund through the Printers' Charitable Corporation (PCC) to help former employees and others affected by the closure of the old Butler and Tanner earlier this year.
The donation has been made to create the 'Butler, Tanner & Dennis Fund', which will provide individual grants of up to £2,000.
Priority has been given to former employees, or their dependents, of the Frome-based printer, which closed in April.
Kevin Sarney, managing director of BT&D, said: "When we began talks with Felix Dennis, there was the view to put something aside for the local community, those that had no choice in the closure.
"We were very sensitive to those that have suffered hardship from the situation."
Sarney added the fund, which is available to those within a 20-mile radius of Frome, is a "significant gesture" designed to "help locals affected by what has happened".
Stephen Gilbert, chief executive of the PCC, said: "This is an extremely generous gesture by Butler, Tanner & Dennis and we will be promoting the fund not only through local organisations, but also through Unite."
Those wishing to apply for grants from the fund should contact the PCC by email info@printerscharitablecorporation.co.uk or telephone 01293 542 820.
Last month, staff who lost their jobs when Butler and Tanner closed were awarded £1,200 each by an employment tribunal in Bristol.
The Butler, Tanner & Dennis site in Frome, Somerset
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Comments
The Mighty wind - 02 October 2008
a very impressive gesture that I am sure will be appreciated by the former employees.
Clive Keeble - 03 October 2008
Felix Dennis is a class act, and no mean poet : over many decades in magazine publishing he has gained the reputation as an excellent and caring employer - a genuine Captain of industry.
Dave Brent - 03 October 2008
Dont let the Unions get their hands on this very worthwhile project - havn't they caused enough trouble here already??
Stuart North - 03 October 2008
In reply to Dave Brent,
You have just made a very stupid and ignorant comment. What is your problem with the union?
Dave Brent - 03 October 2008
There is no need for personal remarks. Takes one to know one, yeah?
The Union sold R&T down the river then closed down Friary out of spite, blocking supplies getting in to the factory and in doing so put its members at Friary out of work.
Petty squables & the unions refusal to allow B&T to move into the 21st century meant that a loss making company continued to make losses, then they blame the owner when the money runs out.
Now they are trying to pretend they are the good guys. .... whatever!
Where is Maggie Thatcher now her country needs her?
What exactly was it that the union wanted to strike over? - I am sure the poor unemployed workers are wishing they never listened to the advice of their Unite representative now!
Tim Paulson - 03 October 2008
Too true David, telling staff that they will be sued personally if they make a mistake if they sign the employment contract. All lies!!
Stuart North - 03 October 2008
Having met Felix Dennis recently I totally agree with Clive Keeble.
After suffering nine months of hell under MPI and Mike Dolan, the employees at Butler, Tanner & Dennis now have a great chairman in Felix Dennis and a company to be proud of again. B,T & D are building a successful new company and are gradually re-employing the skilled and loyal staff which served the original company so well, and for so many years.
Good employers like Felix Dennis will not have a problem with a unionised workforce at B,T & D. It is only the bad employers like MPI who fall out big time with the union because they don't respect employees basic rights, which has been proven in court recently.
The union and now B,T & D have provided hardship funds to help former employees who were unfairly dismissed by MPI.
Stuart North
Senior Rep
B, T & D
paul rodgers - 03 October 2008
As one of the "poor unemployed workers" I can tell you that i'm glad I listened to the advice of my Unite reps. I can also tell you that they all done a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances. It seems quite clear to me that you have no idea what you are talking about .
Maybe you should look at the facts before spouting your drivel Brenty!!!!
Dave Brent - 03 October 2008
What is all this about the staff being told they'd be sued personally if they make mistakes - did the union really say that?
What exactly did the contract say?
Is it also true that the union rigged the secret ballot by getting employees to fill in voting cards immediately \(and publically) rather than waiting the statutory week & doing it by post?
It's interesting that the Union Reps are on here pointing the finger ......pathetic !
Take a look in the mirror Stuart. Tell me, were you one of the lucky ones who ended up with a job?
It's interesting that Stuart North made sure he wasn't left out of work - funny that!??
Dave Brent - 03 October 2008
Paul Rogers,
Tell me, are you now working at B,T & D?
paul rodgers - 03 October 2008
No I am not working at B,T&D. All of that crap that you have put in your post was just lies put out by Dolan.
I am currently out of work and have a wife and 4 young kids to support but I backed Stuart and the other Reps 100% and would do so again.
brett mann - 03 October 2008
No Dave Brent, the union never said that, it was in the contract Dolan gave the union! Glad they told him where to go!
Dave Brent - 03 October 2008
Paul,
No body likes to see anyone out of work, I hope you and your family get sorted soon but tell me, do you really consider yourself better off?
If Stuart North had any balls, he would resign his post so that you can apply fo his job & support your family.
Tell me, what exactly was it you were planning to strike over?
Dave Brent - 03 October 2008
Brett Man,
Did you get to read this contract?
It seems a bit far fetched that any employer would consider suing an employee unless they willingly commited an act of vandalism - are you sure?
Can someone supply a copy of the offending contract to Print Week so they can put it on the website for all to see?
Paul Anderson - 03 October 2008
As someone who has read many posts regarding b&t, one thing stands out.
anyone who dares have an alternative opinion to the union is attacked with personal insults thrown in for good measure.
can the fact this company has gone bust twice only be due to bad management? are bt&d competitors happy this company has reappeared yet again?
will I be abused for even asking?
paul rodgers - 03 October 2008
David
You dont seem to understand that I am no worse off now than i would have been if the union had caved in .Dolan would still have shut the place down, no company accounts were held after December according to the administrator.Very strange!!
Mark Hutton - 03 October 2008
Firstly well done to Felix Dennis for trying to help out local people affected by this dispute.
In regard to union versus management points of view it's all a question of balance - some employers will cut corners with wages, conditions, health & safety etc to maximise profits for shareholders \(if allowed). The unions wouldn't exist and blue collar workers wouldn't part with hard earned cash in subs if the services they provide weren't needed.
In this specific case everyone in the company could access a copy of this contract i'm reasonably up together but couldn't readily understand all the points in the document. Unite uses specialist legal advisors to unravel the complicated "legalese" contained within contracts such as this and the experts, in this case, said "if you sign this you can be made personaly financialy liable for workplace mistakes". I never expected the Butler & Tanner site to ever open again and went out and got another job but i still would not vote to sign that contract.
Due to an almost incredible set of circumstances involving the takeover of the firm by Mr Dennis i now find myself back at the plant. The manner in which the plant is being run now, with co-operation between the workforce and management, is a palpable breath of fresh air. It's such a contrast to the constant bullying agressive stance experienced under MPI.
It seems to me that the workers were very cleverly backed into a corner by Mr Dolan so that when he pulled the plug on the company he had a ready made scapegoat to blame for the financial mess he left behind. Smart but not very ethical.
If you had been at the company during the dispute Mr Brent you would have seen a bunch of Unite reps including Stu North desperately offering rafts of cuts and savings in an attempt to save the business. Each time we found the asked for savings the goalposts were moved. ACAS became involved but Mr Dolan didn't turn up, i can only assume he wanted the firm to fold.
Here's a final note of comparison with the new and the old regime. Mr Dennis puts £150,000 into a hardship fund - Mr Dolan promised the admin' staff in their redundancy letters that he was providing a hardship fund for them, nobody ever answered the given phone number!
There you go David - no abuse just reasoned argument.
Paul Anderson - 03 October 2008
very interesting mark. a good arguement well made but another example of soap box posting.
I asked two questions neither answered and in addition you were so keen to answer that you assumed
the question was asked by someone else and not a neutral observer. It may be just as unhelpful for the industry
to have suger daddy owners supporting otherwise unprfitable companies as pre packs have become.
possibly purchasing assets under their actual value may make some differance. third time lucky?
will this lead to another company in the uk shutting the doors and will unite blame them too?
this idea of a plan by management to blame the union by asking for immpossible concessions has been used for forty
years in all types of industries. it may well have been too late to save the company and might have even have been dolans
fault but i'm sure he would have more important tasks than wasting time trying to fit up unite.
one final point, have owners uk wide suddenly become particularly mean? it seems unite have many battles to fight and
are determined to engage in more every day.
Mark Hutton - 04 October 2008
I think you miss the point of these forums Paul, of course it's "soap box posting" that's what polite difference of opinion is all about. I respect the points you make but having dealt with Mr Dolan it is quite possible that he tried to "fit up" the union. He was very obsessed with image and spin \(to do with his showbiz background - i don't know?).
I think that the position BT&D now finds itself in - slimmed down, lower pay rates, banked hours overtime etc is probably where we needed to go under MPI. I know that these conditions were offered to Mr Dolan by Unite and the deal floundered on the harsh terms of the contract of employment. The recievers are currently investigating some alleged "creative" accounting practices by MPI and it'll be interesting to see what comes out.
You see Felix Dennis as a "sugar daddy" owner but you don't get as high on the rich list as he is without being a very astute businessman. He is also in the top ten of the best employers in the country and my short experience of being employed by him backs this up. I think we now come back to the original article which enforces his reputation - he's trying to help out the community and that's pretty rare these days.
Mark Hutton - 04 October 2008
Just a p.s. but my original post was in answer to David Brent \(i refer to him by name a couple of times in the text). This would be why your points weren't addressed not any particular keenness to get my points in without thinking them through.
Tim Paulson - 04 October 2008
QUote: "Unite uses specialist legal advisors to unravel the complicated "legalese" contained within contracts such as this and the experts, in this case, said "if you sign this you can be made personaly financialy liable for workplace mistakes"."
That is against the UK's company law!!!!!
John Hick - 04 October 2008
This fund looks like the best news old employees could hope for in these trying times.
Luckily I am in work again as my location would exclude me from taking advantage of this particular fund, not a restriction placed by Mike Dolan when he set up the MPI Hardship Fund.
I also welcome with skepticism the news that all former B&T employees will benefit from the recent tribunal won by the Unite employees. In my experience the result of a tribunal is worthless except from the moral standpoint once a company has ceased trading. I suspect that the £1200 being talked about will be the same £1200 already received by the employees for the unpaid earnings in April. I hope I am wrong but I suspect the net result will be no further payments from the govt for most people involved.
Stuart North - 04 October 2008
Message for Mike Dolan,
I have seen proof that you have been sending out e-mail messages encouraging a small number of people to add negative comments on this site, in an attempt to blame the union for your company closures. What a shame to read your awful propaganda again on this positive story. This is a new low even by your standards Mr Dolan.
When the lies above regarding union ballot rigging and the contract started to reappear we thought you might be involved in some way, and now we know that you have been. Only a very small number of individuals now believe your lies and distortions. Thankfully the vast majority of former staff and suppliers can now see through your smokescreens. Are you paying these posters to spout your lies? I have always stated that the truth will come out in time, and that time is coming Mike.
You know that there were just five individuals in the room at the ACAS office in Bristol on Monday 21st April 2008. Two union officials, two ACAS advisors and yourself. Representing the union, I challenged you over the commercial style contract which you insisted had to be signed. I suggested, in front of ACAS witnesses that the union could not allow employees to be personally sued. Your witnessed reply was "why shouldn't I be able to sue employees if they cost me money". Employees losing their jobs is bad enough but being sued out of their houses and homes for costing you money is quite another. The union had already agreed to recommend a huge package of savings, which included reduced terms and conditions and pay cuts to save the company. Knowing that no union or sane employee could ever sign an inappropriate legalese document that put employees at personal risk, you still insisted on that legalese being signed. This was the excuse you relied on to scupper another agreement, deal the fatal blow and close another company wasn't it Mike?
You chose to attend that ACAS meeting alone, leaving no other company director to witness your behaviour. With hindsight most employees now know you had already taken the decision to close the factory long before the union involved ACAS to try and resolve the dispute. I'm told that you were not even keeping company accounts. How many businesses have you acquired and closed now Mike? How many employees have you made redundant? How many suppliers are owed money?
The union followed employment law and the correct legal procedures at all times. I refer particularly to comments on balloting and notice. It was actually you Mike who tried to hold an unofficial ballot of employees and it was you who dismissed the entire workforce without the correct legal consultation or notice. You realised that unlike other employees dismissed at your other companies, these employees were not prepared to tolerate your bullying and your total disrespect for their employment rights. Rights such as basic health and safety, information and consultation, and union recognition were all abused or ignored by MPI.
I suggest that you retire now Mike and stop your bitter propaganda against the union. Most people are trying to move on and forget the whole "MPI experience". We have not spoken since Friday 25th April, the day before the B&T closure, and the day you attempted to buy our union membership, in order to try and demonstrate how worthless it was in your opinion.
You are still under investigation and you are being watched closely. This attempt to cohere your few remaining supporters into making negative comments on this story will not help you; it will merely expose your true colours even further.
Your supporters had no direct involvement or understanding in the dispute. We accept that many innocent people have been affected by the dispute and that these people deserve to know the truth. I challenge your few remaining cronies to look at the facts again, but this time with their eyes open and their blinkers removed. If a small number of people still believe in your spin Mike then that is their choice. Then again some people will say anything for money, some people are plain stupid and some people just slag off unions due to their political beliefs. Union reps are not paid by anyone for their role, but we do take the role seriously because employees need at least some protection from the likes of you!
Stuart North
Stuart North - 04 October 2008
John Hick,
Thank you for your message. I'm sure you mean well but you are incorrect regarding the employment tribunal award. The B&T staff, who were all unfairly dismissed by Dolan, will receive this money in approximately two weeks time.
paul rodgers - 04 October 2008
Nice one Stu
Paul Anderson - 04 October 2008
Thats very good news everyone will recieve the additional £1200 and some may also benefit from the Charitable fund. Will Unite donate to the fund also? Maybe match the donation? How much will it cost the union to sponser the music festival in Liverpool?
Stuart North - 04 October 2008
Dave Brent,
I'll admit I do not know who you are but by your comments I can tell you know little about me either.
I do have balls \(as in courage) and will never resign my posts due to insults or suggestions from people like you. Who exactly are you anyway to try and insult me? Whose pay roll are you on? What was your role or involvement in any of this? I really don't mean to insult YOU but what business of yours is any of this? Have you ever represented anyone other than yourself?
I also have balls \(as in testicles) with three lovely children to prove it! I make this slightly "tongue in cheek" point just to let you know that I am a responsible family man as well, not the sort of person you seem to be implying I might be.
Mark Hutton - 05 October 2008
Mr Hick are you saying you actualy got some money from Mr Dolan's fund. Well done mate! He promised a fund to the non-union and admin staff at B&T but the people who tried to access it found that the cupboard was bare.
Unite have had a fund up and running for some time now for the sacked workforce from Caxton Road it has made payments to many of the redundant staff and continues to help out.
Local people have held raffles, gigs and fundraisers + donations have been made from Unite branches around the country. Many thanks to all who have donated and given their time in this worthy cause but not one penny has been donated from MPI/Dolan.
You'll have gathered by now that i have no affinity for the man on any level and you'd be right - i found him ruthless and self -serving and at the end of the day even if you make yourself a winner in the rat race you're still a rat!
Good luck to you John, glad you're in work, but it'll be a cold day in hell before you convince me that Dolan cared more for his workers than the union did.
brett mann - 05 October 2008
Dave Brent! very doubtful thats his real name, smells like one of Dolans lbitches!
Paul Anderson - 05 October 2008
Any of you union boys want to answer my questions or just continue to abuse (maybe correctly) the curious Mr Brent?
If Mr Dolan did have an supply of lbitches then maybe thats why his companies keep failing?!
my hands are full keeping people in jobs and making a good wedge for myself to bother about lbitches.
however if mr dolan is kind enough to post his supplies details.....
possibly this be his only supplier not left unpaid....
Mark Hutton - 06 October 2008
A final point to Mr Brent. The secret strike ballot was organised by Popularis. Popularis Ltd is named in Statutory Instrument 2002 No 2267 as eligible for appointment as Independent Scrutineer for the purposes of trades union ballots and elections.
I'm sure this independant Government sanctioned company whos business rests on their reputation for fairness will be interested in your accusation that they participated in a rigged ballot - you can contact them at www.popularis.org.
Don Keyballs - 06 October 2008
99% of these posts are nothing to do with this news article. Why dont all you lot get a life & stop going on about the same old bo**ocks, it really is so boring.
brett mann - 06 October 2008
Don't read it then!
Paul Anderson - 06 October 2008
hey Don, just read your past posts.. not exactly a literacy genius? eh
Don Keyballs - 07 October 2008
Sorrie Pool, eye dont unda stanb.
Truth and Justice - 07 October 2008
Well Paul, I don't think they're keeping the Book of the Year prize back for you either. Pompous moi?
Alan Partridge - 08 October 2008
.
Alan Partridge - 08 October 2008
Here here Don, I totally agree.
This started off as an intelligent debate until the likes of Brett Mann start throwing in their 2p's worth.
Some of these saddo's must have spent hours writing some of this garbage. If it makes you all feel better then great, but, do you really think what you say is going to make a difference? - if you do, you need to wake up and get in the real world.
Here's some good advice for you - start looking to the future instead of moaning about the past.
Situations like the one discussed will continue to happen, and rightly or wrongly there'll be winners and losers.
Deal with it
Ah haa
Paul Anderson - 08 October 2008
Indeed, just a place to let off steam and not be taken too seriously. Plus the union boys need to fill their day when they are on strike.
Or they can picket another printer and HELP close them down too?
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