The National Union of Journalists has called an emergency meeting of its reps at Trinity Mirror, after it began announcing a new raft of job cuts to staff.

Earlier this year the group said it would be taking "further steps to protect its position" as it prepared for a tough year of trading, and staff in Cardiff, Liverpool, Huddersfield, North Wales and Newcastle have now been told of proposals for redundancies.

According to the NUJ, 11 editorial posts will go in Cardiff; six in Liverpool; two in Huddersfield and one in North Wales, with up to 20 jobs cut in Newcastle across all departments.

Trinity Mirror says it will be looking for volunteers in the first instance, but the NUJ says compulsory redundancies look increasingly likely in some areas and it is determined to fight these.

Chapel reps from across Trinity Mirror are due to discuss strategies this week.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: "Staff in the regional press have undergone wave after wave of cuts and job losses and editorial teams are stretched to the utmost.

"They simply cannot produce the same high quality journalism with ever fewer journalists. Trinity Mirror is throwing away its main asset – the skilled editorial staff.

"This slow and painful drip, drip of job losses is like watching someone bleed to death – Trinity Mirror is mortally wounding its own papers. We will not stand by and watch this happen."

In a statement last week, a spokesman for Trinity Mirror said: "In view of the challenging economic conditions facing all media companies each of our businesses has conducted a review of its cost base.

"Those reviews are now being completed, and our businesses are entering periods of consultation with those employees affected.

"This is a locally-driven process and each operating company has its own timetable for consultation. However, the overall process will not be concluded before our preliminary results announcement on 2nd March 2006."

The latest announcements on job losses follow ongoing initiatives by the group to reduce costs in the past two years.