Having a wife who works in a "closed-shop" unionised environment, I figure there's only one place you need look for blame re this decision....
The unions bleed organisations dry in such a short-sighted way it is untrue. They want everything for nothing and then lay the blame on the organisation itself when they get p1ssed off being held over a barrel ("agree to our unrealistic terms or we strike!!!!!") and shut shop and move the whole operation elsewhere.
My wife's firm has an average wage of £30k+ (bear in mind it's production-line manufacturing), average age of 45+, average annual holiday entitlement of 30 days, average paid sickness well over the norm etc, etc...They even negotiated that staff get the Tuesday off after the bank holiday cos they didn't want to waste a day's holiday as they normally finish at 3pm on a Friday....
Their latest request is for a holiday form so they can book holiday
5 years in advance......pathetic.....
