A 90-day consultation period is underway, and Amicus GPM sector representatives are meeting with the company today (16 December).

Managing director Andrew Parker said he was saddened at the job losses, but Quebecor was positive about remaining in the UK: "We intend to adjust our overall capacity in order to maintain an economically sound business, while preserving the highest levels of service. Retention of key skills is fundamental to that."

Parker added that he hoped to be able to keep all three factories at the 42,000m2 facility open.

Although Quebecor will not comment on the proposed number of redundancies, the cuts are understood to involve just over 300 positions, or about 40% of the workforce.

"We were expecting job losses but this is a body blow and it's bleak for our members. We are looking to minimise the impact as best we can," said Amicus assistant general secretary Tony Burke.

Quebecor's union agreement is understood to include a "last in, first out" policy, although Burke said "we will deal with the detail when we get to it".

Cutbacks had been widely anticipated after the firm lost its huge Associated Newspapers supplement contract, which accounted for about 60% of its 84m turnover. This work will start transferring to Polestar in April.

The news was greeted with relief by web printers who had feared the affects of an influx of capacity. "It's bad news for their employees, but slightly better news for the rest of us," said one.

Quebecor is actively looking to secure new work for Corby, but missed out on the latest big contract renewal with last week's revelation that the Telegraph supplements are also bound for Sheffield.

As part of the restructure Quebecor is also likely to mothball some presses. It currently runs 15 webs across at Corby.

In addition to newspaper supplements, Corby also produces magazines, commercial work, and special products.

Story by Jo Francis