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Unionized Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists go on strike [1]
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Date: 2022-10-18 17:17:06+00:00
Approximately 100 unionized journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette went on strike Tuesday over their working conditions and the company’s refusal to negotiate a new contract.
The union representing the journalists, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, voted to authorize the strike on Monday and presented the company with a list of demands: lift the impasse on contract negotiations; reinstate the terms of their previous contract, which expired in 2017; and return to the bargaining table. After the company refused to meet those demands, the union walked off the job at noon Tuesday.
“Our demands continue to be the same,” said guild president Zack Tanner. “As far as the timeframe goes, nothing can be certain in the strike, but we think our demands are pretty reasonable.”
The Post-Gazette, which is owned by Block Communications, declared an impasse in 2020 after more than three years of bargaining with the union. Since then, the company has imposed new working conditions including wage reductions and changes in health insurance plans without the union’s consent.
In April, the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that helps enforce labor law, issued a complaint against the Post-Gazette, finding that it had “bargained with no intention of reaching agreement” by prematurely declaring an impasse and insisting upon proposals that would be “predictably unacceptable” to the union.
The NLRB and the Post-Gazette went before an administrative law judge earlier this month and last month to argue over the issues outlined in the complaint. It is unclear when the judge will issue a ruling though the union predicts one will come in early 2023, Tanner said.
Post-Gazette director of marketing Allison Latcheran wrote in an emailed statement that the newspaper will continue to serve its readers and advertisers despite the ongoing strike.
“We currently await the ruling by the National Labor Relations Board regarding the Newspaper Guild’s claim of unfair labor practices by the Post-Gazette and are confident that the company will prevail,” Latcheran wrote. “Over the past three years, Guild employees’ top wage scales have increased 8%.”
The Post-Gazette is already embroiled in another labor conflict with its advertising, design, production and distribution workers. Those employees — represented by the Communications Workers of Americas, Teamsters and Pressmen’s unions — have faced their own issues at the bargaining table and have been without contracts for nearly six years.
On Oct. 6, those workers launched their own strike after the paper terminated their health coverage. Though the Post-Gazette has said that it offered workers several health insurance proposals, the unions argue that the alternatives provided by the company would be more expensive than their previous plan. To show support for their colleagues on strike, Post-Gazette journalists withdrew their bylines from their work.
“Nobody takes striking lightly, and nobody wants to be on strike,” Tanner said. “We’re doing this to earn our contract back and to get back to the bargaining table to bargain our next contracts. Those measures will ensure that the Post-Gazette stays strong for years to come.”
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