ARGUS TO MOVE PRINTING PLANT OUT OF CITY

Newsquest's Welsh newspapers are set to be printed in England after the regional newspaper company announced plans to shut down its Newport printing operations, with the loss of up to 21 jobs.The regional newspaper company will also turn the Newport evening paper South Wales Argus into a morning paper as part of the changes, prompted by a review that found "significant spare capacity" in the company's printing plants.The plan, currently subject to staff consultation, would see other Welsh titles including the Penarth Times and the Western Telegraph in Pembrokeshire printed in England. This proposal would mean that roles of the 21 staff currently working in the Newport press, engineering and computer-to-plate areas would become redundant. The company has entered a 30-day consultation period to consider alternatives to redundancies. Unite Regional Officer, Garry Owen, said: "The paper is treating our members and also its readers with utter contempt with this immoral decision. The Argus should enter into meaningful discussions with us over ways and means of avoiding this move. The consultation period begins today and our first concern is for our members and their families, for whom this will have come as a major blow. We will seek urgent meetings with the management in an effort to retain the print facility in Newport thereby avoiding any job losses at all and certainly any compulsory redundancies. We believe that Welsh news should provide Welsh jobs."


The South Wales Argus, owned by Newsquest, is one of a few daily evening papers still printed and published in Wales. First published in 1892, originally by a localised family firm, it has a rich history in the Newport area.