Toledo Blade files WARN notice of 31 December closure and 116 layoffs

The notice

The notice says the layoffs would occur during the two weeks after the final publication date. It establishes a formal timetable for the planned shutdown and follows Block Communications' September announcement that it would close the paper unless it found a buyer.

The Blade had 119 employees on 8 September, TribLIVE reported; the notice covers 116 layoffs. Lillian King, the Toledo NewsGuild bargaining chair, said in September that the jobs of the union's 80 members were in jeopardy, 13abc reported.

The September announcement

Block Communications said in an 8 September email to staff that it would close The Blade unless it found a buyer. Jodi Miehls, president and chief operating officer, called it "an extremely difficult decision" and said the Block family's continued investment was "no longer an option."

"The Block Family's continued investment to keep the Blade open is no longer an option. The financial losses the Blade has endured for years are simply not sustainable."

The email came after negotiations over a contract and a 46-25 vote by the Toledo NewsGuild rejecting the company's proposal, Michigan Public reported. The union said the proposal would have axed seniority, halved severance for the most experienced employees and allowed outsourcing of all Guild work.

King, a Blade features writer, said the company's proposal would allow all content at The Blade to be created or edited with AI, with no protections for journalists and no requirement to disclose AI use to readers. Guild members returned with an alternative on the Thursday after the vote, and the Block Communications board met the next day, according to the union's statement. The union said the board decided to sell or shutter the paper instead of returning to the bargaining table.

"It's disappointing that Block Communications would rather shutter the paper than work toward an equitable contract," King said.

The Blade publishes material every day online and prints two days a week, 13abc reported. It was founded in 1835, two years before Toledo was incorporated, and says it is the city's oldest continually operating business.

The Post-Gazette precedent

In January, Block said the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette would cease operation on 3 May after years of losses and a labor dispute, TribLIVE reported. In April, Block agreed to sell the Post-Gazette's assets to the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a Baltimore nonprofit, averting the shutdown.

Reaction

Mac Arnold, a Blade outdoors writer and Toledo NewsGuild president, said: "Blade workers would welcome new ownership that shares our commitment to local news as well as to the people of Toledo, and would look forward to working with any such prospective buyers." A closure would add to the nearly 3,500 local papers that have vanished in the US in two decades, according to the Medill Local News Initiative as cited by The Miami Student.