Fairfax Media will proceed with plans to shut down its Sydney printing plant, leading to the loss of 100 full-time jobs, according to a secret internal memo obtained by Crikey.

In the memo, sent yesterday by Fairfax Printing general manager Paul Peters, the company confirms it will shut its existing Chullora plant and seek a deal with News Limited to share its bitter rival’s neighbouring facility.

If that deal falters, Peters said Fairfax would develop a “smaller Fairfax-owned new site” as part of CEO Greg Hywood’s “print rationalisation review”.

Announcing Fairfax’s $400 million dollar loss last Friday, Hywood stayed mum on alternative plans if the mooted News tie-up fell over, telling analysts only that there were “a number of internal options available to significantly reduce costs”.

In the memo, Peters expands further on his boss’ words, saying a decision will be made by the end of November with “either option” to be “implemented within two years”.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union was holding talks with Peters on the site this morning as fears of mass redundancies gathered steam. The site employs 230 permanent full-time staff and 140 casuals.

It spits out daily copies of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review and weekly editions of the The Sun-Herald and the company’s community and regional titles. A total of 13 million newspapers and sections are loaded on to trucks each week.

Under the Chullora deal, Fairfax would also be able to share distribution routes with News to end the situation of two sets of trucks driving around the country at the same time each morning.

During Fairfax’s full-year profit results presentation last week, Hywood announced the company would carve out $80 million from its cost base over the next two years. The plan to rationalise printing accounted for $30 million of the future savings, Hywood said.

The freshman CEO also announced a paring back of hard copy print runs as the company transitioned from a manufacturing business to a mostly-digital operation — sending shivers down the spine of The Age Canberra bureau which already cops late delivery of its paper to the city’s political class.

Strong rumours also persist that Fairfax will ditch its eight-year old Tullamarine plant in Melbourne — which employs about 100 staff — to shack up with News in Port Melbourne.

Lorraine Cassin, the AMWU’s print division national secretary, told Crikey she had written to Hywood and News CEO John Hartigan two months ago to express concerns but the response had been unsatisfactory.

“We’re pretty disgusted with both companies, we think it’s shocking that they won’t talk or consult with the workers,” she said.

The Fairfax print centres are one of the most heavily unionised arms of the media giant, with the AMWU boasting over 90% coverage across the Melbourne and Sydney sites. One-hundred full-time workers were in the gun in Sydney, Cassin said.

Among journalists, one concern of the proposed tie-up is the propensity for scoops to be knocked off by a direct competitor on deadline in the style pioneered by disgraced former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks.

News Limited director of corporate affairs Greg Baxter said the imminent announcement of a Fairfax marriage was “incorrect” this morning. Fairfax didn’t respond to an email query.