The Oklahoman to close printing facility, lay off 130

Jun. 10, 2016 – The Oklahoman announced this week it will close its printing and packaging facility and will outsource the operations to the Tulsa World starting this September. As a result, 130 full-time and part-time employees will be laid off, said Chris Reen, publisher of The Oklahoman and President of The Oklahoman Media Company.

“We’re fortunate to have newer and more modern presses as close as Tulsa with ownership like Berkshire Hathaway who has a great deal of experience with these sorts of arrangements around the country. The move will create significant cost savings while not sacrificing quality,” Reen said in a company statement.

“While this move gives us the ability to continue to provide professional print journalism in our community for an extended period of time, it’s never easy to make a business decision that adversely affects any of our employees,” he added.

The company said those impacted will be offered severance pay, subsidized health insurance and outplacement services.

— With files from The Associated Press