About 210 printing employees at newspaper group John Fairfax Holdings Thursday walked off the job for 48 hours over the closure of its printing operations in Spencer Street, Melbourne. Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union state secretary Dave Oliver said workers at its Spencer Street and Tullamarine plants downed tools about 3pm Thursday. He said The Age and regional dailies, such as the Dandenong Journal and the Werribee Banner, would be affected. When asked whether The Age would be published tomorrow, he said "we don't know, that's up to them", but he believed Fairfax management was "not confident" about the printing of that and other papers. Fairfax this week announced the closure of the Spencer Street operations, which will make 86 printing and maintenance employees redundant, to take effect from March 12. Oliver said workers were angry the newspaper group had failed to consult them over the closure and would not discuss relocating staff to its Tullamarine plant. He said Tullamarine workers were experiencing excessive workloads, with printers working 20 to 30 hours of overtime each week. "Negotiations have broken down at this point in time," Oliver said. "If the company wants to come back with some positive contribution we're quite happy to have discussions." John Fairfax Holdings issued a statement Thursday about the industrial action. "The company regrets the initiation of illegal industrial action for 48 hours at our printing plants at Spencer Street and Tullamarine," the statement said. "The company will take all appropriate legal and commercial actions available to it." Fairfax said on Tuesday the closure would not affect any of the company's publications in Victoria.