• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register
Publishers Lunch logo Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
Login Sign Up
  • Personnel
  • Earnings
  • New Releases
  • Book Bans
  • The Trial
  • Unions
  • Compensation
  • Archives
Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

January 23, 2009By Michael Macrone

Layoffs Hit Big University Presses

January 23, 2009By Michael Macrone

Cambridge University Press is laying off almost 160 people in the UK. Chief executive Stephen Bourne says: “We know that this is an incredibly difficult time for those staff that are affected and we will be doing all we can to support them through these changes.” He added, “This has been a very hard decision to make. There are parts of the business doing very well and a lot of them are overseas but two parts are not and one is simply not viable in the long term.” Hardest hit is their Cambridge Printing Services unit, where 133 jobs are being cut (down to a staff of just 37) as printing for books that are sold outside of the UK moves abroad. Their UK education staff is also being cut in half, down to 25 people. In all, the layoffs represent almost 10 percent of the total workforce of 1,700.

Given that much of the staff is unionized, Cambridge has entered into a required 90 “consultation period” over the cuts. Workers call the cuts “immoral,” the Cambridge paper reports.

The paper points out that in their most recent annual report, released this month, CUP called 2007 – 2008 a “first-class year for the press with sales reaching £179.5 million” and “another year of market-leading growth, at 11.8 per cent.” They reported profits of £2 million.
Cambridge News

Separately, Oxford University Press is cutting 60 jobs in the US in expectation of state and library budget cuts, according to PW. The press has approximately 700 employees here.

Filed Under: Free, News

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login

Forgot Password Quick Pass User Login
Get Full Access
The Publishing Industry’s Essential Daily Read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • S&S Signs Haberman and Swan Book About "Donald Trump's Final Act in Public Life" November 27, 2023 Axios
  • Barnes & Noble is ending support for older Nook e-readers November 17, 2023 The Verge
  • Publishing Coalition Files Brief with Appeals Court Asking to Uphold Ruling Blocking Texas's "Reader" Book Banning Law November 14, 2023 Filing
  • Entangled Acknowledges "Printing Errors" On Yarros's Just-Released IRON FLAME: "We are committed to making this right" with Exchanges November 11, 2023 Variety
  • Bridgewater Says THE FUND "Is ridiculous and couldn't be any further from the truth" November 8, 2023 Press Release
  • Librarians Fired for Refusing Book Bans Try Filing Discrimination Claims with the EEOC November 8, 2023 AP
  • What 35 Years of Data Can Tell Us About Who Will Win the National Book Award November 7, 2023 Public Books
  • "Silent Book Clubs" Gain In Popularity November 7, 2023 WSJ
  • WH Smith Launches Program to Buyback Used Books for Credit (With A Partner That Will Then Resell the Used Books) November 2, 2023 Company site
  • Abu Dhabi's Mubadala (Which Bid on Simon & Schuster) May Invest Further In Silver Lake's Bid to Take Endeavor Private November 2, 2023 Bloomberg
Publishers Marketplace logo

Contact Us

News

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Report News
  • Discuss
  • Classifieds
  • Rights Offerings

Deals

  • Report A Deal

Books

  • Buzz Books

Jobs

  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy Terms of Use