For the first time in 30 years, employees of the press room of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette went on strike.
As of noon Tuesday, more than 100 of the paper’s writers, editors and designers walked off the job, joining workers on the picket line of the Post-Gazettedistribution, advertising and production unions. These employees went on strike two weeks ago, claiming that Block Communications, owner of the Post-Gazette and The blade in Toledo, Ohio, stripped them of their health care coverage after they refused to pay an extra $19 a week. Newsroom workers, represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, say they are on strike over unfair labor practices.
Zack Tanner, president of the union, said the workers who produce the Post-Gazette “take a stand against the hostile and illegal treatment” to which they say they have been subjected since Post-Gazette management declared an impasse two years ago in lengthy contract negotiations. The union said new working conditions were imposed unilaterally, vacations were scrapped, wages were cut and a new health insurance plan was more expensive and offered less coverage. The National Labor Relations Board recently heard the Newspaper Guild’s unfair labor claims, and the union said it expects “a major victory at the outcome of this hearing”.
Tanner said both sides would file briefs by the mid-November deadline and a decision would likely come in January or February. He added, “Our demands are not overly complicated,” and they include a return to the bargaining table and reinstatement of the terms of the expired contract.
Allison Latcheran, spokesperson for the Post-Gazette, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. A company statement on the Post-Gazette The website said it was awaiting the National Labor Relations Board’s decision and “is confident the company will prevail”. He also said he raised the top salary scales of Newspaper Guild employees by 8% and the company offered several proposals to other strikers which were rejected, including enrollment in the newspaper’s health care plan. ‘company.
“None of these solutions have been accepted,” the statement said. He concluded: “We welcome our employees at all times.” He also swore that the Post-Gazette “will continue to serve the Pittsburgh community, our readers and our advertisers, despite any work stoppages.”
The last time Pittsburgh saw a newspaper strike was in 1992, and it lasted eight months. It was triggered when Teamsters employed by the Pittsburgh Press halted work on a plan by owner Scripps-Howard to cut 450 jobs, as well as the part-time jobs of the newspaper carriers who delivered the paper. The Post-Gazette was subject to a joint operating agreement with Hurry, so it also stopped printing. By the time the dust settled, Scripps-Howard sold the Hurry to Block Communications, which shut it down, making the Post-Gazette the city’s only daily newspaper.
Unlike 30 years ago, the Post-Gazette is now primarily an online entity – it only offers its readers a print edition two days a week, Thursday and Sunday. Advertising, production and distribution strikers have urged readers to cancel their subscriptions to the Post-Gazette and refuse advertising. Tanner acknowledged that there is a risk that readers and advertisers will not return to the Post-Gazette if a strike is prolonged, but, he says, “the Post-Gazette must understand that his workers would not be back, it would be much worse.
