WORKERS sacked from one of Burnley's biggest employers are set for a showdown with the company because they were not consulted before being made redundant, union bosses claimed today.

More than 250 staff are heading to an employment tribunal in the new year to try to win extra compensation.

And lawyers acting for their trade union, Amicus, believe they will win the claim and get a hefty payout for sacked staff of more than £2,000 each.

Papermarc sacked 250 staff from its Burnley operation in Caldervale Road in August and went into receivership.

The workforce is making the claim under legislation introduced by the Government that requires employers to consult employee representatives about proposed collective redundancies.

The payment, likely to be equal to eight weeks' wages capped at a maximum of £270 per week, will be paid by the Government.

This is on top of the statutory redundancy payment of up to 12 weeks' wages that workers at Papermarc have already received from the Government.

At the time of the redundancies, the firm's union was the printing union GPMU. This has now merged to form part of Amicus.

John Spencer, former GPMU rep at Papermarc, said: "Under the law a company must explain what is happening and why to staff threatened with redundancy and Papermarc failed to do that.

"We are obviously hopeful the claim is a success, but if we don't get it then the law needs changing so this cannot happen again. It is not just workers who are affected, but families are dragged down too."

Kitty Ussher, Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Burnley, said she intended to join the Amicus group if she was elected as the town's MP and was already working with the union to make sure Burnley workers get what they are entitled to.

She added: "The owners of Papermarc mill have treated their workforce appallingly.

"They failed to let the staff know what was going on with the company.

"Thankfully, individuals affected have had some cash from the Government to tide them over this difficult time, and today's news means there's likely to be more where that came from.

"If I'm Burnley's next MP I will raise this case in Parliament and work with other trade union MPs to make sure other managers aren't able to treat their workforce as badly as the hard-working men and women of Papermarc have been treated."

The company went into receivership last year but continued to trade until it was bought out.

Papermarc has sites at Caldervale Road and Bancroft Road, Heasandford.

A second business, Papermarc Merton Ltd based in South Wales, is also in receivership.

The company was formed in June 2000 with the purchase of the Paper and Board Mills in Burnley from the Jefferson Smurfit Group.

The mill has been at its original 10-acre site in Burnley since 1875, using the water for its production processes from the adjacent River Calder.

In March a fire in a paper-making machine at the factory caused major damage at the Caldervale Road site and the bill was expected to reach thousands of pounds.

The company supplies paper to Europe and North America as well as all over the UK.