Baltimore Sun Media Makes Plan To Close Printing Plant, Laying Off 100 Workers In South Baltimore

By Christina Sturdivant Sani ● Business ● December 2, 2021 ● 1 Comment

Printing presses are becoming less necessary as newspapers move to digital platforms. Photo via Wikimedia.

What’s happening?

Baltimore Sun Media released a plan on Tuesday that would move the printing of The Baltimore Sun and affiliated papers from a plant in South Baltimore to one in Wilmington, Delaware. The change would result in 100 full-time workers losing their jobs.

Why are they closing the Baltimore plant?

“This preliminary agreement would reduce expenses related to the print operation and help continue the investment in our digital growth,” said Trif Alatzas, Baltimore Sun Media’s publisher and editor-in-chief, in an email to employees. Print revenue has declined in recent years and has been “exacerbated by the pandemic,” he said.

Anything else I should know?

Most of the workers impacted by the layoffs are press and insertion machine operators. Their union is working to negotiate severance packages.

You can read more here.

Author

Christina Sturdivant Sani

Christina Sturdivant Sani is a writer and editor who has contributed to nearly two dozen publications including Washington Post, the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, and Bloomberg’s CityLab.

At Bloc by Block News, Christina is responsible for setting and implementing the vision for the cooperative’s editorial initiatives. In this role, she’s intentional about amplifying the voices of people—both writers and subjects—who have historically been silenced by white-led media outlets.

Christina is also a podcast junkie, audiobook lover, coffee shop connoisseur, and proud Washington, D.C. native. She studied print journalism at Hampton University.