According to Unite national officer Steve Sibbald, a lack of communication from the Guardian regarding 27 proposed redundancies brought its members to the brink of industrial action.

However, Unite said that since the threat of action was put to the publisher, it has been more willing to negotiate.

Sibbald said: "The ballot is suspended, but it could still go ahead next week pending further negotiations – it really depends how they go."

Guardian News and Media has vowed that as many of the redundancies as possible will be voluntary. Unite maintains that its action is about ensuring this, not reducing the number of redundancies.

However, there is concern that as the site is relatively new – running for about four years – many of the employees do not have long employment terms and would not be entitled to substantial redundancy sums.