Up to 17 pre-press production jobs could be axed at Newsquest Hampshire.

The company has announced plans to merge some of its operations in Basingstoke and Redbridge, near Southampton.

The company owns the Southern Daily Echo and weekly titles such as the Andover Advertiser and Basingstoke Gazette.

The changes will mean some work will be outsourced to a third-party.

Newsquest Hampshire managing director Stewart Dunn was unavailable for comment.

In a statement on the Southern Daily Echo website, he said: “Earlier this year we notified pre-press staff of a review of our operations within Hampshire, which included an upgrade to our production system and proposals to transfer the majority of our advertisement make-up to a third-party supplier.

“Plans to upgrade the production system are already under way, while investigation into outsourcing of advertisement make-up, including the successful implementation of similar projects elsewhere within Newsquest and Gannett centres, has resulted in us being confident that similar efficiencies can be achieved within the Hampshire region.

“Consequently, it is envisaged that we will be able to operate our pre-press function with fewer staff.

“It is therefore proposed that the pre-press operations in both Basingstoke and Southampton will be consolidated into a single unit, based in Southampton.

“Our hope is that the proposed redundancies can be achieved on a voluntary basis.”

In May, Newsquest confirmed plans to outsource pre-press work in India at its centre in Brighton and Swindon.

Comments

disgruntled (28/08/2008 11:46:58)
newsquest staff are increasingly being treated in this awful manner and getting sick of it also find it surprising nobody has yet reported on awful new websites which have seen audiences fall by up to 20 per cent. There is increasing speculation some major titles about to be sold off.

Mr_Osato (28/08/2008 12:08:51)
How can a ‘local’ newspaper be produced 12,000 miles away? Then again how can a local newspaper be owned by a corporation based 6,000 miles away? Perhaps they should offshore the management function – saving themselves a small fortune on pointless bureaucrats and probably getting a better service

Ivy Likes (30/08/2008 21:30:20)
Have you noticed how Newsquest managers are never available for comment on bad news stories?
They just stay under
their stones ubtil the heat dies down.
That’s part of their new wave US-style management indoctrination.