300 More Jobs Gone At Palm Beach Post

 

WEST PALM BEACH, FL (October 21, 2008) – When The Palm Beach Post cut 300 jobs from the payroll earlier this summer, it was one of the largest single newspaper staff cuts to date in the face of this year's economic turmoil.

But stunningly today the Post announced that 300 more jobs are being eliminated, these mostly in the production, mailroom, and transportation departments, after the newspaper reached a deal to have the Post, the Palm Beach Daily News, and La Palma printed at their competition's printing plant in nearby Deerfield Beach.

Post publisher Doug Franklin said the deal with the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale, a Tribune Co.-owned newspaper, should be finished by January 31, and that the Post will "offer financial packages to affected employees to assist in the transition."

At the start of this year Palm Beach Newspapers Inc. had 1,350 employees, it says.

Earlier this summer 300 jobs were cut when buy-outs were offered, doing away with about 130 jobs from the newsroom and the rest from circulation, production, and advertising positions. That round of cuts eliminated about 22 percent of the company's employees.

The Palm Beach Post is not one of the Cox Newspapers Inc. properties that is up for sale. Earlier this year Cox announced that it planned to keep The Dayton Daily News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Post, but would sell its other daily and weekly newspaper properties, including the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

Franklin said the deal to have the Post's once fierce competitor to its south print PBNI's products "addresses our aging presses and allows us to focus on what we do best, providing local news and advertising to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast."

The printing deal also includes having Sun-Sentinel drivers deliver PBNI's newspapers to distribution warehouses in Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, and Okeechobee counties.

In addition to publishing their own newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel's plant prints the region's edition of USA Today, The New York Times, and New Times. Now their daily press run will also include The Palm Beach Post, the Palm Beach Daily News, and La Palma.

 

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