The core business of Guardian Media Group, which prints The Guardian, The Observer and Guardian Weekly newspapers, employs 108 members of staff across its Manchester and London Guardian Print Centres (GPCs).

A GNM spokeswoman confirmed to PrintWeek that the organisation was in consultation but that no comment could be made on the number of jobs at risk while conversations were ongoing.  

She said: "It is anticipated that the proposed changes will result in a number of redundancies across GPC London and GPC Manchester, though the company will seek to achieve as many of the redundancies as possible through voluntary means.

"We recognise that this is very unwelcome and unsettling news, and deeply regret that redundancies are necessary. GNM will do its best to support staff during this difficult process and will work closely with Unite throughout the consultation period."

In 2011, GNM announced a five-year transformation plan to adopt a ‘digital-first’ strategy, resulting in greater resources and investment dedicated to digital output over print, although the organisation said at the time that print would still be its biggest source of income by 2016.

Last year, GNM recorded a £44.2m operating loss for the 12 months to 31 March 2012, largely as a result of declining print circulations and advertising sales and heavy investment in its digital activity. As a result, and as part of the ongoing ‘digital-first’ restructure, the organisation announced that it would cut 100 editorial jobs across its titles by March 2013.

This year, operating results at GNM improved as a result of ongoing cost savings, although the division still posted losses of £30.9m for the 12 months to 31 March 2013.

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