Union members in Independent Newspapers are to finish balloting today on whether to serve strike notice on the company.
With unions required to give a week's notice of a strike, a vote in favour of action could threaten production of the group's newspapers from next Thursday. Management, however, says it has a contingency plan to ensure continued full production in the event of a strike.
About 460 staff in all unions have been voting for the past three days on proposed industrial action over a threat of compulsory redundancies.
Most unions completed the ballot last night, and the National Union of Journalists will conclude its vote today. NUJ members are not directly affected by the company's redundancy plan, but the union has been balloting on whether to support industrial action.
The company this week rejected a suggestion by the National Implementation Body (NIB) - made up of employers, unions and Government representatives - that the dispute be referred to the Labour Court.
A company spokesman said it had already been to the court and had exhausted all of the available industrial relations avenues. Its stance has angered trade union leaders, who claim a similar "snub" of the NIB by a trade union would draw swift condemnation from the employers' body, IBEC, of which the Independent is a member.
IBEC, however, refused to comment yesterday. A spokeswoman said the confederation was represented on the NIB and had nothing to add to the statement made by that body last Friday.
The dispute at the Independent is over the company's threat to implement forced redundancies if necessary to cut staff numbers by 205. It has decided to outsource functions operated by clerical, administrative, telesales, finance and general staff.
Employees in the relevant sections who fail to apply for a severance package by tomorrow have been told they will be made redundant next week on a compulsory basis and will receive statutory payments only.
About 50 clerical and administrative staff have been warned they could lose their jobs without even statutory redundancy. They have been told that if they refuse to either accept the package on offer or to relocate from Dublin, they will be considered to have resigned. Their jobs are being outsourced to Cork, Armagh and Hertfordshire in England.
The company said earlier this week that 190 staff had accepted the "very generous package" on offer, which averaged €120,000 per person - ranging from €40,000 for those with short service, to €260,000 for those with the company for 40 years.
A spokesman said yesterday that staff members were continuing to come forward to discuss the package. The company insists, however, that if it falls short of its target of 205 job cuts, it will implement compulsory redundancies.
The NIB's decision to issue a statement last week followed a claim by SIPTU that the company was acting in breach of the "Sustaining Progress" agreement. The NIB said the complaint should be referred by both parties to the Labour Court for adjudication, a procedure provided for in the partnership agreement.
SIPTU's Dublin regional secretary, Ms Patricia King, said the company's failure to adhere to the body's request was something that IBEC should address. She said there had been a lot of legislation in recent years to curb the activities of unions, but there appeared to be nothing to prevent employers ignoring collective agreements.
