DOZENS of furious employees at Basingstoke printing company Wyndeham Impact downed tools for a four-hour picket-line protest against the proposed closure of the site next month.

The news of the planned shutdown, which would see 58 employees axed if it goes ahead, follows months of disputes between staff and management at the site.

Unite union members are currently in their 20th week of industrial action. They have been taking part in weekly four-hour stoppages since April in protest about redundancies, changes to sick pay and a pay freeze which followed a large pay cut two-and-a-half years ago.

Employees at the site, on the West Ham trading estate, took a 13 per cent pay reduction in April 2009. Union representatives say that this was on the understanding that a review would be carried out a year later. However, union leaders and workers say that no review has been forthcoming – and now the parent company’s management have started a consultation process on the proposed closure of the site.

Printer Glenn Dinstale, 55, has worked at Wyndeham Impact for nearly eight years. Mr Dinstale, from Chandler’s Ford, said: “It’s just been one thing after another. We have done everything that the company asked to try to keep the place afloat and this is how they repay us.

“There’s not a lot of work out there for printers, and at my age, I don’t know what prospects I’ve got if this place closes down.”

Union members are now planning to step up the strike action in defence of the workers’ jobs. From today there will be daily two-hour stoppages as negotiations continue between bosses at Wyndeham Group, which runs Wyndeham Impact, and union representatives.

Last Friday, the protesting printers were joined during the four-hour stoppage by Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke and other supporters.

Mr Burke said: “These workers, who have made a massive sacrifice to their pay to support the company, feel totally let down by the management. To close the site would be a massive blow.”

Roy Kingston, Wyndeham Group’s chief operating officer, said: “After reviewing Wyndeham Impact’s financial performance, along with other principal factors such as the requirements of our customers, our manufacturing capacities, and the cost of production, it shows that the (Basingstoke) business is not sustainable as a stand-alone entity.

“We have reviewed a range of options to find an economic solution that would make the company (Wyndeham Impact) viable. So far, we have been unable to find a workable business model.”