Fairfax Media to slash 70 jobs

Fairfax Media CEO Joan Withers. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Seventy jobs cuts and a possible move to a nine-day fortnight are being proposed by Fairfax Media as it continues to slim down its New Zealand operations.

Fairfax announced today 70 pre-press and advertising production jobs would be shed as the company moves production into four regional hubs.

The affected staff create and manage advertising material published in newspapers and are currently based at all Fairfax publishing sites throughout the country.

The move follows the lead of a consolidation of sub-editors from the company's papers.

Fairfax owns The Dominion Post and The Press newspapers, and the websites stuff.co.nz and Trade Me in New Zealand, as well as a number of regional newspapers such as the Waikato Times, Nelson Mail and the Southland Times.

Chief executive Joan Withers said the move was due to be completed at the end of August.

It would "consolidate and streamline our production workflow, processes and workforce in a way that delivers lower cost, higher productivity and better quality".

Along with the job cuts, the company was also looking at further cost-cutting measures including the possibility of signing up for the Government's nine-day working fortnight.

Ms Withers said the initial streamlining measures would allow Fairfax to position itself for growth in digital technology and new media.

"While this pre-press project would have been initiated regardless of the prevailing recessionary conditions, the current economic climate and challenges media companies are facing globally underscore the need for companies such as ours to have a competitive cost structure," she said.

Meanwhile, billing and accounts systems were currently being upgraded, and improvements made to the subscriptions service.

The company will discuss the redundancies with staff over the next fortnight and ask for expressions of interest in voluntary redundancy.

There will be opportunities to remain at local sites or be redeployed to the newly formed pre-press hubs in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

"This is a difficult time for affected staff and we will be doing our very best to support them through it," Ms Withers said.

Fairfax last year shed hundreds of jobs in its Australian operations in a move it said would save the company tens of millions of dollars.

The company declined to say today how much the latest measures were expected to save.

- NZPA