Boston Globe Begins Cutting Jobs at Taunton Printing Facility
TAUNTON — Jobs will be cut over the next several weeks at the Boston Globe’s printing, mailing and delivery facility in Taunton.
Boston Business Journal reports that the Globe has decided to outsource the contract for its mailroom to its Globe Direct marketing service. The Globe Direct marketing service is a direct mail marketing service that reportedly brings in tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue.
The work performed at the Taunton facility will now be relocated to North Andover under the parent company of the Salem News and Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, North of Boston Media Group.
Boston Business Journal also reports that sources close to unions in Taunton say negotiations are underway to determine how many of the 130 jobs at the facility will be eliminated.
The shift has a couple of ramifications for New England’s largest media company. For one, it further reduces the Globe’s reliance on unionized workers as the company remains engaged in contentious negotiations with about 300 of its journalists and business-side employees for a new contract after the old one expired last year. The mailroom workers at North of Boston are not unionized, according to the sources.
The Globe began building the Taunton facility only three years ago, touting it as one of the most advanced printing facilities in 15 years and predicting the facility would pay for itself in less than three years. The Globe also planned to print the Boston Herald and regional editions of the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.