The most devastating of all the bad news Lee Enterprises dumped on The Buffalo News earlier this year was the company’s plans to shift printing of the newspaper to Cleveland.
The move would mean about 160 employees, members of eight labor unions at the News, would lose their jobs. That includes two Guild members who work in Prepress.
Guild President Jon Harris and Guild Administrative Officer Kim Leiser have participated in meetings with the company and representatives of the other unions about plans to outsource print production.
Lee, which announced the plans in February, has been clear that it wants to be out of the printing business. They want to implement the change around the end of their fiscal year, which is in late September.
Lee’s decision fits into an industry trend of papers being printed in plants hours away from the readers they serve.
Talks between the company and the unions are ongoing.
Buffalo Newspaper Guild CWA Local 31026 