"We (Amicus) remain in meaningful talks with the company to address the various issues on the table," said Birmingham & West Midlands deputy branch secretary Albert Carr.

Carr said the measures being proposed affected all areas of the company, but would not say if job cuts were part of the proposals.
"Talks have now gone to a national level," he said.

Cradley managing director Chris Jordan was unavailable for comment.

The two sides were set to re-convene after PrintWeek had gone to press.

The West Midlands-based print group reported disappointing first-half trading figures, with losses in its print division increasing 12% to 307,000. Group sales were also down to 13.3m, a fall of 6.3% on the previous year.