MORE than 170 printing jobs could be at risk after a takeover deal between Prescot-based Transactis and US print giant RR Donnelly.

Chicago-based Donnelly is proposing to buy the document services, reprographics and procurement operations of the Whiston firm which can trace its heritage back to the 1920s when, as J&C Moores, it printed pools coupons at Edge Lane for Littlewoods.

About 120 Transactis staff working on data operations are currently unaffected by the acquisition.

But 251 face being transferred to Donnelly under Europe’s Tupe legislation, and the majority of those could be at risk after Donnelly revealed plans to switch production from Whiston to plants in Tewkesbury and Gateshead.

Unite the Union and Usdaw are meeting management this Friday.

Alison Jones, Unite regional officer, said at this stage they can only talk about the Tupe issue, but once the transfer takes place in mid-March they could be embroiled in redundancy negotiations should Donnelly pursue its plans to switch production out of Whiston.

She said: “There has been a great deal of concern surrounding the proposed transfer of various departments to RR Donnelly, and after receiving confirmation that the measures connected to the transfer could, indeed, lead to wide-scale redundancies from the highly skilled, loyal and dedicated workforce, the news is devastating.