Two journalists facing compulsory redundancy at Scottish newspapers have been handed a potential lifeline by management.

Last month it was revealed that five casual photographers and two staff feature writers at The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday had been given notice of compulsory redundancy.

But today the two feature writers are due to meet bosses to discuss further work at the paper, according to the NUJ.

The news followed a meeting between National Union of Journalists officials and Johnston Press management on Friday.

NUJ Scottish organiser Paul Holleran said: “They’ve offered freelance work to one of them and redeployment to another one.”

Referring to last week’s meeting, he added: “There was a commitment from us that we would work with management in employment changes and a commitment from them they would work with us to avoid compulsory redundancies.”

Writing on his blog, NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “Like all newspaper groups Johnston are axing jobs, leaving vacancies unfilled and cutting resources, leading to unmanageable workloads, stress and falling morale.

“Paul Holleran and I sought to convey the enormous concern, fear and in some cases anger there is at the current situation.

“That meeting, like so many at the moment, focused a lot on the stress facing journalists in under-resourced newsrooms.

“We had a very constructive meeting and I’m hopeful something more positive can come from it.”

Johnston Press was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.