"Construction Today" to close and a Chicago newspaper company cuts 456 printer jobs

(Crain’s, Aug 2, 2011) —

Six Cook County companies have notified the state that they plan a total of more than 800 job cuts by September.

Sun-Times Media Holdings LLC, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers, will eliminate 456 jobs at its Chicago printing plant, according to a monthly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act report released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act — known as Warn — requires firms with at least 75 employees to give the state 60 days' notice of closings or a certain number of layoffs

Sun-Times Media’s layoffs are the result of its decision last month to stop printing its own issues. Outsourcing printing responsibilities to rival Tribune Co. will save the struggling media company about $10 million annually.

Most of the workers losing their jobs are unionized pressroom personnel, paper handlers, electricians, machinists, drivers and operating engineers. Layoffs will begin on Sept. 30 and conclude by Dec. 30, according to the state report.

Also in Chicago, Schofield Media Group LLC, which publishes Construction Today, Manufacturing Today and other business-to-business magazines, will close after unexpectedly losing its bank funding, according to President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Reshefsky. The number of jobs affected totals 107. (http://www.construction-today.com/)

“Wells Fargo (Schofield's lender) gave us no explanation. They pulled our funding (July 15),” Mr. Reshefsky told BtoB, a Crain’s sister publication.

Joel's comment:

I'd like to thank Vern Kellie of Imaging and Printing Corporation, Chicago, for bringing this news to my attention.