Times to Close Printing Plant in Chatsworth

The Los Angeles Times will close its Chatsworth printing plant and eliminate 110 jobs early next year as part of cost-cutting measures and consolidation of its printing facilities, a company representative said Monday.

Printing will continue at plants in downtown Los Angeles, Costa Mesa and Irwindale, which are “fully capable of handling our current and future needs,” Times spokeswoman Martha Goldstein said.

In particular, she said, a $46-million expansion project this year has increased the paper’s capacity to print in color by 33%.

The Chatsworth plant was completed in 1983.

The company will accomplish the printing staff reduction as much as possible through voluntary buyouts, Goldstein said. Workers at the Chatsworth plant who are not involved in printing will be relocated.

Monday’s announcement brings the number of positions eliminated in recent cuts by Times parent Tribune Co. to about 300, or 7.7% of the paper’s workforce. The news staff will give up 85 of those positions, mostly through paid voluntary separations.

The cuts involving the Chatsworth plant are the last in a series of job reductions, Times Publisher Jeff Johnson said in a memo to employees, noting: “The announcements ... are now complete.”

Tribune shares fell 53 cents to $30.86. The news was announced after the market close.