Toledo, OH.

Block Communications said it will lay off 136 people at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 131 at The Blade of Toledo, OH, a decision that will help cut costs at the two money-losing dailies where the company has been wrangling with unions for more than a year over concessions.

Production and printing employees would be affected as both newspapers prepare to leave their long-time printing facilities in Downtown and Toledo for new or cheaper plants. Newsroom and advertising workers will be spared, company and union leaders said on Tuesday.

Block told employees in Toledo in a recent letter that losses exceeded $8.5 million

THE NAME Metzger has been elevated to rock star status in the printing industry, and with good reason. Joe Metzger can be seen frequently on the trade show/conference circuit, discussing any number of relevant industry issues. Frankly, if you can recall seeing him give more than a few talks, then feel free to count yourself among the printing realm’s cognoscente, boasting big picture perspective.

IF YOU were writing a historical novel based on the real-life saga of a graphic arts business that had to reinvent itself—again and again—over the course of several decades, Metzgers Printing + Mailing would serve as the perfect case history. Founded as a typesetter in 1976, the Toledo, OH-based company rode the desktop publishing (DTP) wave in the mid-’80s to become a DTP service bureau, before transitioning itself into a color copy center and then a color separations business.