Here's the text of a leaflet that was given out at Ashington site:
BALFOUR BEATTY ENGINEERING SERVICES
Dear Employees,
The directors of the company want to assure you that the new BESNA agreement is nothing to fear and we the Directors want to explore with you some of the benefits.
1) Your rate of pay will not change to any great degree, it will simply be decided by your direct supervisor, someone you know and respect, that rate of pay is of course subject to fluctuation, any problems that are encountered will be easily resolved by the offer of a blow job, oral s*x will not be written into the new agreement but we believe that over time it will become the preferred method of communication between operatives and managers.
2) The directors have also given serious consideration to the pension implications in the new agreement, we have on balance struck a happy medium which we will hope meet your aspirations, the fact that you will now work until you are 68 under government proposals only prove to us that you will not need a pension as you will be dead or that ****** anyway you will have no need of one.
3) We also wish to reassure operatives that once full casualisation of your trade is in place, we see no need to wait in the rain outside the gates for a days work, we will provide at great cost a shelter in which to congregate, this way the foreman can pick who they need and humiliate anyone who may not have performed adequately in the eyes of the company the previous day.
4) Your union under the terms of this new agreement will have sole bargaining rights, we at Balfours are of the opinion that they are a pack of spineless bastards, that the partnership we envisage is simple, we say that you are going to get ****** regularly and the union will provide the grease. This is the true spirit of partnership and of course you will still pay your union for the privilege.
5) The directors also wish to assure operatives that these changes will allow the company to enhance further the bloated salaries of those that run the company, something that is long overdue.
6) We wish to make one final point to the great unwashed and it is simply that our children have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, something we believe you will understand, we also think that you will appreciate that it is a small price for you to pay so that our children do not suffer as opposed to the children of the operatives, as we all know your kids are 10 a penny.
FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE DIRECTORS OF BALFOUR BEATTY