The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s planned closure will affect 171 workers, according to a WARN notice filed Tuesday with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
The WARN Act, meaning Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, is designed to protect workers, families and communities, according to the commonwealth. Through the act, employers are mandated to give a 60-day notice before closing plants or conducting mass layoffs.
The Post-Gazette’s address is listed as 300 Corliss St. in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood, not the address of its former longtime office on the North Shore, according to the filing. Signs from the North Shore office were removed last month, and the Pittsburgh Steelers took over a portion of the office.
The filing also denotes an effective date of May 4 for the closure, according to the commonwealth website. The notice is not listed as a layoff but rather a “closing.”
Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — one of the oldest metropolitan newspapers in the country — announced in early January they will cease operations May 3.
Staff was informed of the decision by Jodi Miehls, president of Block Communications, during a pre-recorded, 2½-minute Zoom call.
Block Communications, which has owned the Post-Gazette since 1927, cited sustained financial losses, labor strife and the decline of the local news economy in explaining the move. The closure announcement followed failed attempts by the Post-Gazette to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a lower court order that required the company to make changes to its health insurance coverage for union workers.
Unionized Post-Gazette journalists returned to their North Shore newsroom in November after a bitter three-year strike — one of the longest labor disputes in American journalism.
Post-Gazette spokeswoman Allison Latcheran said Tuesday the company had no comment.
