Newsquest North West plans to move its production operations in Bolton to Blackburn, home of the Lancashire Telegraph.

It had initially planned to conduct a selection procedure to decide who should be made redundant.

But National Union of Journalists members refused to take part in the process, and now the union says the company has agreed to ask for voluntary redundancies instead.

David Thomson, NUJ Father of Chapel, at Newsquest Bury and Bolton, has previously told managers: "The chapel unanimously agreed that unless the company changes its mind and introduces a voluntary aspect to this redundancy proposal, we will seek a ballot for industrial action."

He added: "Members also overwhelmingly decided not to co-operate with next week's scheduled skills analysis assessments. No sub-editor will attend any such meeting. We will not under any circumstances take part in an exercise, which contributes towards a person losing his or her job."

The union announced on its website this afternoon that the company had now backed off from compulsory redundancies.

No-one from Newsquest North West has so far responded to a request for comment.

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