The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) told suppliers in an open letter that an operational Geon was more attractive for suitors.

It followed the decision by the three main paper merchants to stop supplying Geon and receivers McGrath Nicol closing three Queensland sites as an urgent cost-cutting measure.

"The AMWU is in constant communication with the administrators and receivers and we trust there will be a good outcome and that the business and jobs will be saved," said the letter.

"We appeal again for you to keep supplying so the business can operate."

National print division secretary Lorraine Cassin also said it would be "dreadful" if firms were to buy Geon businesses without agreeing to pay staff their full entitlements.

[Related: Cassin makes 2011 Power 50]

Cassin told ProPrint that staff were anxious about their future and felt like they weren't been kept in the loop by Geon management.

"The feedback is that they feel like goldfish in a bowl with someone pointing a shotgun at them."

Meanwhile, unionists rallied outside Telstra's Melbourne office last week in an effort to force its Sensis division to abandon plans to cut 648 jobs and send some work offshore.

The proposed redundancies include 391 back-of-house fulfilment and customer care roles for the White and Yellow Pages, which are printed by PMP.

Unionists placed Yellow Pages paper planes inside the Telstra foyer in protest.

National secretary Paul Bastian said Sensis' plans were "a disgrace and they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it".

[Related: Ups and downs of Geon]

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