In what's being described as a difficult blow, dozens of people are losing their jobs at the London Free Press as parent company Postmedia Network Inc. has decided to shut down its printing plant on York Street.

Sixty-one full time and 74 part-time employees, 135 total, will be affected.

Postmedia has entered into a print outsourcing agreement with Metroland Media Group.

Production of the Free Press will be moved to a facility in Hamilton starting this fall.

Other community dailies and weeklies currently printed at the London facility, will be moved to other Postmedia production locations.

"This is a tough, tough day for our London members and their families," said Paul Morse, president of Unifor Local 87-M, which represents unionized workers at the London Free Press in a release.

"We are extremely disappointed with the aggressive cost-cutting at Postmedia," Morse added in the release.

"We've already seen Postmedia cut good-quality jobs by merging newspapers in Ottawa, Edmonton and Calgary."

Unifor Local 87-M represents 214 employees at the London Free Press.

"More than half the unionized workforce at the London Free Press is being put out of work."