TOLEDO – As many returned to work post-Labor Day, Toledo learned that its longest continuously operational workplace, The Blade, announced – after a round of failed negotiations with its union – that it would either sell its assets or close by the end of 2026.
Corporate decision
“‘Unfortunately, an extremely difficult decision has been made,’ Jodi Miehls, president and chief operating officer of Block Communications [the parent organization of The Blade], said in an email to Blade staff on Tuesday morning,” according to an article by The Blade.
“The Block Family’s continued investment to keep the Blade open is no longer an option…Block Communications Board of Directors and the Block Family are truly disappointed to have reached this point. Unfortunately, the realities facing local journalism have left us in this situation,” she continued.
Miehls was the only voice in the article, which ended ominously with the words, “The Blade has 119 employees.”
Union reaction
Absent from the decreed article were voices from those 119 employees, some of whom walked in the Labor Day Parade on Monday wearing shirts that read, “The Blade works because we do.”…