Two N.J. Companies Announce Mass Layoffs

At least 570 jobs will be lost in New Jersey because of mass layoffs over the three months.

Two prominent New Jersey companies announced mass layoffs this week that will leave hundreds without work.

North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record of Bergen County and other publications, announced Wednesday that 426 employees will receive notices required by New Jersey state law when "mass layoffs are imminent."

The company said about half of those employees are expected to become part of the group in "newly defined news and advertising roles."

The balance, roughly 200, will see their jobs end in mid-November, according to the publication.

The news comes two days after General Mills announced plans to close its Vineland manufacturing facility, which will put about 370 employees out of work, the company said Monday.

That facility, which makes Progresso soup products, is expected to close by the first quarter of fiscal 2018. The Vineland facility has been operated by General Mills since 2001, according to a company news release.

The company says it plans to transfer production to other U.S. facilities to eliminate "excess soup capacity in its North America supply chain."

The changes at NJMG, meanwhile, come two months after the nation's largest newspaper chain, Gannett, bought the company that was among the last truly family-owned news corporations in the nation.

The Record was largely credited for breaking the Bridgegate scandal story that has plagued Gov. Chris Christie's administration over the past two years. It also published the much-revered firemen-flag-raising photo by photographer Tom Franklin after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The company said it has developed a new strategy that "will result in job losses across the operation" but will also enable the publisher of The Record of Bergen County, NorthJersey.com and weekly newspapers to "better serve readers, advertisers and communities across North Jersey."

Tom Donovan, Northeast regional president of Gannett East Group, said in a prepared statement that the company is "reinventing our newsroom, sales team and other business divisions" and "we are making a long-term investment in our staff, tools and technology.”

Staffers on Wednesday were taken off site to The Terrace, a banquet hall in Paramus, where Editor Richard Green and President Nancy Meyer delivered the news that shocked and devastated the staff, according to The New York Post.

Laid-off workers will get one week of severance for each year of service with a maximum of 36 weeks, according to the report.

NJMG owns The Record as well as The Herald News, along with 49 weekly newspapers and several magazines. Gannett plans combine the staffs at the weeklies and close about 20 of those papers, according to the report.

Patch file photo