Torstar Corp. Cutting 160 Positions For Ontario Newspapers

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The Toronto Star’s company announced on Thursday that is was cutting 169 positions in a combination of voluntary and involuntary staff reductions as they restructure their newspaper division.

Among the companies holdings are Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper, and digital properties including thestar.com, Toronto.com, LiveDeal.ca, Workopolis and Olive Canada Network and Harlequin Enterprises.

This move is expected to save the company in the range of $12 million annually.

“Our two largest expenses are labour and newsprint,” Toronto Star publisher Jagoda Pike wrote in a letter to his staff.

“We tackled newsprint first and reduced our consumption by more than 10 per cent through a number of initiatives. We then took steps to reduce labour costs, including through changes to our collective agreements and now with the (voluntary severance program).”

The Toronto Star will be losing 122 employees in the restructuring. The Star employs about 1,800 people.

As the growth of online news sources continue newspapers face a shaky future.

The New York Times Co. posted a loss of $335,000US in the first quarter of 2008.

Today’s news was not unexpected. In February Torstar Corp. warned that 2008 would be a rough year for Ontario newspapers because of the province’s economic outlook. It seems that prediction came true today for the many staff at the Star that will be looking for another job in a shrinking field.

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