Monday 21 April 2008

Ott presses

You can almost hear the Ottawa Sun presses starting up again with the latest Help Wanted ad for four printing press operators.

The Service Canada ad posted Monday is more detailed than most Help Wanted ads when it comes to "skill requirements," but the message is clear - they want applicants to start work ASAP.

Ottawa Sun readers will benefit from the return to sanity after printing the tabloid two hours away in Mirabel, Que. for more than a year. Fewer distribution delays, later deadlines etc.

As described, working conditions for printing press operators include excessive noise, standing for extended periods, physically demanding, requires working under pressure etc.

So who would want to be a printing press operator?

Guys like the now unemployed Toronto Sun press operators, a dedicated crew described by the late, great Doug Creighton as the best of the best and essential to the success of the Sun.

Doug made sure annual reports and special supplements reporting on the inner workings of Sun newspapers always included the unsung heroes who manned the presses.

When the presses at 333 King Street East were silenced recently, many of the pressmen putting their final paper on the streets had 25-plus years on the job.

It is an end of an era for Toronto Sun editors, who were always in control of press runs into the early hours of the morning.

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