Thwaites workers have had no choice but to accept controversial new working conditions, union officials have claimed.

Employees had been warned that the company would consider the future of staff who refused to accept the new site agreement.

The Blackburn brewers had written to all 350 employees after six months of negotiations over the new working conditions had led to a stalemate.

The agreement, which covers areas such as working hours and bank holiday working, was rejected by unions at a mass meeting in June.

But it is understood the vast majority of employees had agreed to the new arrangements by yesterday's noon deadline.

The unions had a number of objections to the new site agreement, including what they say is being asked on occasions to work without pay.

"In the view of the union representatives the new site agreement is ill-conceived, could do more harm than good and does not address the real reasons for the company's inefficiency - bad management," said a joint statement issued by the unions. "The situation was that there was only going to be a minority of employees who were not going to agree and, because of that, felt they were backed into a corner and had no option but to sign," said a union spokesman. "We will be presenting the company with a petition from workers stressing that they signed the contract under protest."

Thwaites managing director Paul Baker, has argued that getting agreement from staff to the new working conditions was crucial to make the business more competitive in a very difficult trading environment.

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