Chapel meetings took place over the weekend after senior management met with FoCs and Amicus assistant general secretary Tony Burke on 16 December.

"We discussed a whole range of proposals, including changes to working arrangements on the basis of trying to reduce the number of redundancies if at all possible," said Burke, who described the discussions as "complex".

"The company is confident it can win additional work which may save a number of jobs," he added.

Quebecor World wants to cut 40% of its UK workforce due to the loss of its huge Associated Newspapers supplements contract, but still hopes to keep all three plants at Corby open.