Methodist Publisher Cuts Staff
by Lynn Garrett, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 8/8/2007
The United Methodist Publishing House has announced the layoffs of 30 of its 1,000 employees in response to declining sales and rising costs. Layoffs were spread across several departments; in addition, some 20 vacant staff positions will not be filled. In its new fiscal year (Aug. 1-July 31), UMPH is forecasting a 2% decline in annual sales.
In a July 27 story from the Methodist News Service, publisher and CEO Neil Alexander said, "We have deep compassion and concern for the well-being of the affected staff persons, and the layoffs come only after many other cost-saving measures have been instituted." He cited higher than projected employee pension costs due to an accounting error, but added that the house "has more than ample total assets on its balance sheet to provide for our pension liabilities."
UMPH is not the only denominational publishing house to struggle in recent years. As membership in mainline Protestant denominations has declined over the past few decades, these publishers—like UMPH, Augsburg Fortress (owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and Westminster John Knox (owned by the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.)—have seen the traditional markets for their books and other products shrink. And like many university presses, publishing houses owned by churches are now expected to be self-supporting and not rely on subsidies from their parent organizations.
In addition to the publishing house—which includes the trade imprint Abingdon Press—UMPH operates 70 Cokesbury bookstores in 28 states and the District of Columbia.
