Fourteen people will soon be out of work at the largest newspaper in Waterloo Region.
Employees at the Waterloo Region Record have been informed of impending layoffs.
“We did not see this coming, but it’s an industry trend,” Robert Reid, chair of the newspaper’s unionized employees, tells CTV News.
Affected employees sit on the newspaper’s copy desk, where they edit stories, write headlines and place stories on pages for both the Record and the Guelph Mercury.
Those functions will soon be done out of the Hamilton Spectator – which, like the Record, is owned by a subsidiary of Torstar.
Reid says eight jobs will open up in Hamilton as a result, although it’s not known if any local employees will make the move.
The Record is also seeking to fill two reporter positions vacated when nine long-time newsroom employees accepted buyout packages in September.
“In the matter of a couple of months, we are losing 23 people from our newsroom,” says Reid.
“We do not have the resources in our community, covering our community, to the extent that we did previously.”
Reid says readers likely won’t notice immediate changes to the newspaper, which still employs 37 employees and six managers in its editorial department.
The Record’s publisher did not respond to a request for comment.
