The UK's biggest independent publisher, Midland News Association, has announced its intentions to axe 10 percent of its workforce, reported Press Gazette. Among its publications are Express & Star, the Shropshire Star, and a number of weekly publications.

The company entered redundancy talks this week, according to BBC News. Meetings were held with staff councils at the two major publications. Additionally, employees received letters.

In a statement, MNA managing director Alan Harris said, "Like every other newspaper publisher, the MNA is facing very difficult trading conditions and there seems to be no sign of improvement.

"If we are to continue to invest for the future in our publications, both in print and on-line, then we must make some cost savings.

"The board fully understand that this is a very difficult time for all staff and we are doing our very best to keep everybody informed of what is happening."

Employees don't know where the cuts will take place. Website Designers reported that the belief is that 60 jobs will be cut in Wolverhampton while 30 will be cut in Shropshire. According to HoldtheFrontPage, Northern and Midlands organizer for the National Union of Journalists Chris Morley said, ""What worries us is the impact it has on quality. It is the biggest-selling regional daily and it does that by employing journalists and enough of them to create a quality news service." BBC News reported that Morley also said he would be "extremely concered" if any editorial positions were the ones to get the axe. The union will contact its members for meetings to discuss how to protect them as much as possible.

Express & Star sells 116,000 copies a day and the Shropshire Star sells 58,000, according to the Guardian. They implemented paywalls just last week.

This isn't the first time MNA has cut jobs. In October 2008, the publisher laid off 120 people. It also merged the business functions of the two publications to save money.

Sources: BBC News, the Guardian, HoldtheFrontPage, Press Gazette, Web Designers