here is the score - small consultancy just been sold to bigger group by the owner. 1st employees hear about it is when they are introduced to new owners - bit of a shock!question is was there anything illegal e.g. no consulting the employees / givng them forewarning of owner's intentions of selling - or was it simply poor form not to give them any warning?

Just poor form

why not organize a staff walkout?

Can't see how that would be illegal, but certainly unethical.It just seems very stupid to me. You'd think the new owners would insist on meeting their new employees. In a small environment it can only be bad for morale, since many people work in places like that so they feel they can have more input in shaping the company.Would love to know who this is.

I agree with somthing stupid on this one. A consulting firm's assets are:a) The skills, relationships, experience and staff that work for the firm, andb) Its reputation;therefore to do do any kind of basic due dilligence, the buyer surely must (should?!) have spoken to a few of the people who work for the small firm.EC

didn't think it was illegal but agree with posters above that you'd have thought the new owners would want to meet the staff as the (old) company is v.small - the new owners appear to have bought on the basis of the existing work / potential pipeline in a market they want to get in to.as for morale - think most are still a bit taken aback as it only happened a few weeks ago to work out what to do (nice idea on the walkout but no one wants to lose their job - apart from the usual Xmas lull the employment market in general doesn't really look too bright at the moment!)