Burke said there was "no prior warning" about the closure, which was revealed on 1 February and will lead to 210 redundancies.

However, last month St Ives said it was keeping the cost base of all its businesses under "active review". It also cut 125 jobs when it said it would stop web printing at its Direct plant in Leeds.

Burke said the first he had heard of the Gillingham closure was a phone call telling him that an announcement was to be made to the workforce. "The FOCs have told us the workforce were stunned and many of the staff were in tears," he added. "This is no way to treat over 200 loyal and hard working employees."

The union said it was consulting its lawyers about the closure. Chapel officials will also call for St Ives' European Works Council to be reconvened to discuss the announcement.

"Once again we are seeing capacity cutbacks when companies should be holding their nerves," said Burke.

St Ives managing director Brian Edwards said at the time of the announcement that there was "too much capacity chasing too little volume", adding that it was "a depressing decision to have to make".