A SCHOOL friend of the Prime Minister is writing him a personal letter about the plight of 155 workers at a doomed Trowbridge factory.

Ian Gammie, who was taught at the same Scottish private school as Tony Blair, is planning to write a letter to his old school friend about Nestl's decision to close its Staverton plant.

Former Fettes College student Mr Gammie, the firm's Transport and General Workers Union branch chairman, plans to detail the impact of what is being termed Nestl's 'ruthless global cost-cutting campaign' on workers in Staverton.

Unionists bidding to keep the factory open have stepped up their campaign by fighting the decision on a European and international front.

Pressure will be applied to Nestl's headquarters in Geneva through the International Union of Foodworkers, while T&G officials are calling for the closure to be referred to the Nestl European Works Council.

Production is slowly being switched to the company's factory in Vallet, France, as the Staverton plant's September closing date looms closer.

T&G officials are calling for their French counterparts to help with the anti-closure campaign by boycotting all contracts switched from the Wiltshire plant until the dispute is over.

Mr Gammie and branch secretary Steve Silcocks were due to meet with west Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison today.

Mr Silcocks said the union would make a determined effort to keep the factory afloat.

"Nestl is taking the easy way out as in France you are not allowed to close a plant which is making a profit, which this one is," he said.

"Our members are 100 per cent behind us."

T&G chiefs are now demanding a meeting with Nestl's UK chief executive Alistair Sykes.