In a signal McClatchy's plans to consolidate the Olympian and News Tribune newspapers are rapidly moving forward, the pressman's association has voted to support moving print operations from the Olympian to the News Tribune's site, according to a source.
The source says The Olympian will continue printing the USA Today, which has a contract with The Olympian for several more years.
The consolidation will almost certainly result in layoffs, as early as later this year.
Consolidating print operations will result in several changes at both newspapers. The presses will start running in Tacoma earlier, since they will have to print two newspapers -- similar to the Modesto Bee and Sacramento Bee both being printed at the Sacramento facility. Of course, that means earlier deadlines and scheduling problems. In Modesto, there have been complaints about papers being delivered later due to the move to Sacramento.
What will happen to the Olympian facilities? Speculation is running rampant, the source tells me. If you have more information or a tip, leave it in comments.
Previous:
The Olympian to cut 4, no involuntary layoffs
The News Tribune cuts 18... will shift other newsroom staff into reporting
More trouble ahead at McClatchy's Tacoma and Olympia newspapers?... unions may not agree to consolidation plans
Prediction: McClatchy will regionalize newspapers
2 comments:
Neither The Olympian, nor The News Tribune's pressmen were in favor of the proposal. The Tribune's pressmen were told that they would face layoffs if they did not vote to approve the proposed contract to move operations to Tacoma. The press crew at The Olympian voted "yes" to lose jobs with severance. They could have voted "no" and faced a more uncertain future(which most certainly would result in the same layoffs when the printing contract comes up for renewal in April). Both shops were against the wall on this one.
Either way, it seems as if McClatchy was set on shutting down operations at The Olympian from the day they took over, despite it being a profitable paper.
The rumor in August was : ALL papers are going to have two rounds of layoffs/buyouts one in August/September AND one in December. So be prepared that just before Christmas we'll all have another gift. The McClatchy gifts just keep coming.
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