Buster: Good points, well made.
Keeperboy: You'd be surprised just how ineffective these so-called strong employment laws are in the UK.
To some of the 'sack the lot of em' brigade: I hope it never happens to you. The days of Victorian-style mill owners are long-gone and some of your attitudes should have gone with them. GG management need to take a long hard look at how they badly mismanaged this situation. Wouldn't surprise me if GG is spoken of in the past tense within 12months.