By rdnewsNOW staff

Print room closing at Red Deer Advocate, Red Deer Express ending

Mar 26, 2019 | 2:38 PM

The union representing workers at the Red Deer Advocate says it is extremely disappointed and saddened that 25 employees – more than half of its staff at the newspaper – are being laid off.

Effective July 1, Black Press Group Ltd. is closing the pressroom (four employees) and mailroom (19 employees) at the Advocate building on Bremner Avenue. Future printing services will be handled out of Black Press facilities in Calgary and Edmonton.

Rick O’Connor, President and CEO for Black Press Media Ltd. tells rdnewsNOW in an email that the move will give the paper enhanced colour re-production capabilities and won’t result in any change to the printing schedule or products the newspaper currently produces.

As well, two people employed in classified/reception at the Advocate are losing their jobs this Friday. There are no cuts to the paper’s editorial and reporting staff.

The 25 employees affected are members of the Media and Communications Workers of Alberta, Local 30400 CWA Canada.

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“Over the past few years there have been gradual reductions in Advocate staff numbers, but this is the largest single cut,” union spokesperson Mary-Ann Barr points out. “This of course is a blow to the employees affected, many of them long-term employees. As well there will be a negative impact on the local economy, as these were decent-paying jobs with benefits.”

Barr says the union hopes to meet with Black Press representatives as soon as possible to discuss the layoffs.

“While it is unfortunate a number of long time production employees at the Advocate will lose their employment, this is happening right across the media industry as we seek to gain efficiencies in the business,” O’Connor says.

The Advocate has been around since 1907 and is the only local daily newspaper in Red Deer.

Black Press, which is based in Surrey, B.C., has also announced that it is shutting down the Red Deer Express weekly newspaper, effective immediately. The Express will publish its final issue on Wednesday.

O’Connor says the Express is being closed to allow the company to “concentrate on the Red Deer Advocate brand moving forward,” and that employees at the Express, who are non-union, have been offered positions elsewhere with Black Press.