Scotland's newspaper industry was left stunned last night when 250 journalists at three Glasgow-based titles were told that they faced redundancy and must reapply for their own jobs.

About 250 staff employed by The Herald, Evening Times and Sunday Herald - part of the Newsquest group, which in turn is owned by the US company Gannett - were told they were on 90 days' notice and that only 210 of them could be rehired if they agreed to new terms and conditions.

The move prompted growing conjecture that the journalists re-employed would have to work across the group rather than for individual titles and that new terms and conditions would mean much-reduced salaries.

The news sparked anger and disappointment across the Scottish political spectrum with a spokesman for Alex Salmond, the First Minister, saying that, taken together with 20 job losses at the BBC in Scotland, also announced yesterday, it was a worrying development. Mr Salmond's spokesman called on management at The Herald to provide “a detailed explanation of the full implications of this announcement”.

Pete Wishart, the Nationalist MP, said the restructuring was “a backward step”. He added: “When Newsquest acquired these newspapers they made a commitment to develop and invest in them. Regrettably those words do not seem to have been backed up by investment.”

There has long been speculation that The Herald and Evening Times group is seeking to merge its three titles, and yesterday's move appeared to confirm that the company is moving in that direction.

The company told staff of their decision at a meeting in their Glasgow headquarters yesterday. The announcement came just a day after Donald Martin, the present Editor of the Evening Times, was appointed editor-in-chief of the group. In a statement, Tim Blott, managing director, said: “We are creating an efficient operation fit for the 21st century, which will provide even more compelling and unique content for readers of our three titles and our websites.”

Mr Blott claimed that they had taken the step to avoid industrial action planned this week by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), but union representatives denied that any action was pending.

Journalists said they were “reeling” at the news. There was confusion after the company appeared to backtrack from its original message by telling staff that they were merely “under threat” of redundancy. One senior source said: “They want to rationalise the whole thing. They are looking to weed out the troublemakers.”

Another senior source said: “It is not a jolly place this afternoon. The new editor told us that they hope to keep the jobs in-house and that he wants people who are going to work together as a team, but how is that possible when you are fighting your colleagues for a job?”

Staff were told by Mr Martin yesterday that they were being put on 90 days' notice, but that the company hoped to rehire people within 30 days. Details of the new jobs have not yet been made available to staff.

One media expert said last night that the reorganisation of the titles could lead to a merger between The Herald (circulation 62,000) and the Edinburgh-based The Scotsman (circulation 50,000), which has been predicted for years. Brian McNair, professor of journalism at the University of Strathclyde, said: “There are questions about whether it is viable to have two national newspapers in economically troubled times in Scotland.”

Paul Holleran, the NUJ's Scottish organiser, said: “This is a brutal attempt at forcing changes.” He added: “No one in the workforce will be surprised that this is the first action of the new editor-in-chief, Donald Martin. To say he's getting off on the wrong foot is the understatement of the year.”

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