The Glasgow-based Herald & Times Group's managing editor said the company's decision to eliminate 40 jobs and force all 250 editorial employees to reapply was financially necessary to insure survival of the papers, MediaGuardian reported Thursday.

"These are extraordinary times and therefore it merits extraordinary action," Tom Thomson told MediaGuardian.

The group, owned by Newsquest, had to "move very swiftly to restructure, both to produce more competitive news and to look at our cost base, because the markets in which we operate are moving quickly. So we needed to be quite unusual in the way we did this," he said, according to MediaGuardian.

Newsquest announced on Dec. 3 it would make 250 Herald staffers reapply for about 210 jobs, and also put in place wage bands and an extension on the work week, as well as less sick pay and holiday time, Media Guardian reported. The group has also frozen the 3.5 percent pay raise for the Glasgow editorial staff, a move that breaches a two-year pay deal.

Newsquest is owned by U.S. publisher Gannett Co., Inc.