By: E&P Staff Torstar Corp., parent of the Toronto Star, and the Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press this afternoon are both reported to be laying off employees.
Torstar, which last week reported a $211 million quarterly loss (E&P Online, Feb. 26), is eliminating 60 jobs at its Vaughan printing plant, near Toronto.
The Canadian Press reports that staffers were notified of the cuts in a February memo. Toronto Star Publisher John Cruickshank said the reduction was caused in part by the smaller size of the country's largest-circulation daily.
Those losing their jobs will keep working for three months, as their contract requires. More than 400 people work in the Vaughn plant, which also prints a number of other publications.
Torstar announced yesterday a companwide lay-off of 60 union staffers and managers -- most in Toronto Star ad sales. In February it cut 64 jobs at its Metroland Ontario dailies in Hamilton, Guelph, and The Waterloo.
The Winnipeg Free Press, meanwhile, which started the year by eliminating 24 jobs, will lay off an unspecified number of employees today and tomorrow, according to the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers of Canada.
Union representative Paul McKie told Sun Media's competing Winnipeg Sun that he had not been informed of the number of staffers or the departments affected.
"Revenue is down, but unlike a lot of other media outlets right now, the Free Press still makes money," McKie told the Sun's Kevin Engstrom.
E&P learned that through mid-afternoon, no cuts had been made to the operations side at the Free Press, while newsroom staffers would say only that if there are layoffs, an announcement could be expected.
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