The Boston Herald announced plans on Tuesday to lay off 130-160 workers under a plan to outsource printing operations following a drop in circulation, says a Reuters report. Press workers, mailers, engravers and paper handlers would be affected by the cuts, the Herald said in a story on the cuts posted on its website, www.bostonherald.com.
According to Reuters:
A Chicopee, Massachusetts, plant owned by News Corp will print the Herald every day except Friday, according to a Boston Globe report on details of the plan. Editions of The Wall Street Journal are printed at the plant.
Executives from the Globe -- the Herald's bigger, cross-town rival -- discussed the possibility of printing the Herald but ultimately decided against it, the Globe reported. On Fridays, Boston Offset, owner of a plant in Norwood, Massachusetts, will print the Herald, the Globe report said.
The Herald, part of Herald Media Inc, was owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp from 1982 to 1994. The Herald's average daily circulation dropped 9.5 percent to 182,350 in the six-month period that ended in March, while its Sunday circulation fell 4.7 percent to 105,629, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
