According to Unite, the remaining employees at the plants will be asked to take a 10% pay cut, while working hours will be increased to 42.

The move mirrors one carried out at Walstead stable-mate Wyndeham Heron two years ago.

Unite national officer Steve Sibbald said: "We will resist cuts to terms and condition of employment and we will not be agreeing to 42 hours."

It is also understood that future plans could see Southernprint’s bindery moved to Southern Binders.

Initially it was speculated that the removal of a Muller Martini binding and stitching line would mean the end for Southern Binders.

However, a source close to the company said: "It looks like they might merge the two companies together and move everybody into the Southern Binders site."

The company has already announced that 105 redundancies have been proposed at the two sites, with two binding lines and two Goss presses being pulled out of the plants.