Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists go on strike

Labor strife at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette escalated Tuesday, with most of the newsroom’s unionized employees going on strike to protest what they consider unfair labor practices by the company.

This comes after Post-Gazette employees belonging to unions representing production, distribution and advertising workers went on strike earlier this month and called for a boycott of the newspaper by subscribers and advertisers.

Journalists had launched a byline strike, removing their names from articles in solidarity. On Tuesday, they went a step further, taking to the picket line at noon.

“We’re out here because we believe in this place, we believe in the journalism that we produce, the papers that we print and deliver to the community at large,” Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh President Zack Tanner said into a bullhorn as he addressed workers outside the Post-Gazette’s North Shore office building.

“Without the Post-Gazette, without the workers who produce the product, those readers go uninformed,” Tanner added. “It seems like lately, for the past five or six years, the Block family (that owns the Post-Gazette) disagrees with that.”

The guild, which represents the unionized newsroom employees, said workers voted Monday to authorize the strike.

The union then sent a notice to Post-Gazette management demanding that the company “end its illegally declared impasse to contract negotiations, lift the unilaterally imposed working conditions and reinstate the terms of the previous collectively bargained contract.”

It also said Post-Gazette management should return to the contract bargaining table to reach a fair contract for the 101 journalists represented by the Guild.

The guild has been in contract talks with Post-Gazette management since 2017. In July 2020, the Post-Gazette declared an impasse to negotiations. The guild’s bargaining committee said it was willing to continue discussions to reach an agreement.

Post-Gazette management cut wages for journalists, took vacation time away from veteran workers and forced employees into a health insurance plan that offered less coverage for a higher price, the guild said.

The guild filed unfair labor practice charges against the Post-Gazette. The charges were argued by the National Labor Relations Board in front of an administrative law judge in September and October. A decision has not been issued.

“These journalists are just trying to do their jobs in service of the people of Pittsburgh,” said Jon Schleuss, president of NewsGuild-CWA, the national union representing journalists. “It’s despicable for the Blocks to fight their own workers and disrespect their rights to have a union. They need to bargain in good faith now.”

Toledo, Ohio-based Block Communications owns the Post-Gazette, the Toledo Blade, cable TV systems, a construction firm and multiple television stations.

In a statement, the Post-Gazette said the news organization would “continue to serve the Pittsburgh community, our readers and advertisers, despite any work stoppage.”

The company said it is confident it will prevail in the National Labor Relations Board dispute and noted that guild workers’ top wage scales have increased 8% over the past three years. It said unionized production, distribution and advertising employees were offered a 9% wage increase and the opportunity to enroll in the company’s health care plan before they went on strike.

“We welcome our employees back at any time,” the company said.

“I am heartbroken to learn that Pittsburgh may lose a critical voice today,” said Mike Blinder, publisher of Editor & Publisher, an industry magazine. “Some very imperfect men crafted a perfect document in 1787 that ensured a final check on power, provided by a free and unfettered press. Whenever this process is impeded, I feel that we are one step closer to damaging this fragile republic.”

Blinder said he sees “two sides to this coin” surrounding unionization in the newspaper industry.

“Hedge funds who take over newsrooms, then slash and burn to squeeze profits, end up destroying the brand’s integrity by destroying the very journalism that establishes it,” he said. “However, there is also the challenge of the loss of top-line revenue we’ve experienced over the years, from a loss of classified advertising and big tech’s exploitation of our content without compensation back to those who create it.”

Those financial struggles, Blinder said, force newspaper owners to make difficult decisions in their efforts to create a sustainable business model.

This marks the first newspaper strike in Pittsburgh since 1992, when the Pittsburgh Press went out of business as a result of the strike. The Tribune-Review then expanded into the Pittsburgh footprint.

“When this happened 30 years ago, it shut down the city,” said Andrew Conte, director of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. “Now, there are so many other alternatives for other news and information, it’s going to be interesting to see how consumers act.”

Conte said he suspects consumers won’t feel the impacts of this strike quite as much as they did 30 years ago when news wasn’t as easily accessible through other outlets or social media. Still, he said, it will be felt throughout the city.

“It’s going to be difficult for everybody, including readers,” he said. “This has a potential to be ugly and extended.”

Reporters joining the strike, Conte said, likely will have more of an impact than production workers alone.

“I think this will make more people aware of the strike, because the challenge up to this point has been it affected the print product, which only comes out two days a week,” Conte said. “The Block family has talked about eliminating the print product anyway. A lot of people didn’t notice because there were still stories there.”

Conte said it is possible that the Post-Gazette’s website will maintain some level of local news content if journalists or freelance writers cross the picket line.

Alex McCann, a digital news editor at the Post-Gazette and secretary of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, acknowledged that some workers will break the picket line to continue working through the strike.

“We have made very clear that we welcome them with open arms if they change their mind and if they realize it’s time for all of us as journalists to stand up for the Post-Gazette and for ourselves,” McCann said.

The striking workers, he said, plan to put together a strike publication in an effort to continue providing local news to readers. The publication likely will be online-only, he said.

“It is one of our most immediate concerns,” McCann said, though he could not offer a timetable for when it might be available.

McCann said he acknowledged that there may be concerns among employees and readers regarding the strike but said he feels very confident in their efforts.

“We have a lot of great people,” he said. “We have a lot of people who are willing to fight for their jobs, willing to fight for the Post-Gazette.”

He noted that many people have left the company in recent years because of the issues that spurred the strike.

Kathy Bintrim, who has been on strike this month with other production, distribution and advertising employees, said working for the Post-Gazette on its creative services team has been challenging. With increasing health care costs and no pay increases, it is hard to live off her salary, she said.

With the strike, she said, it has been particularly challenging.

“I am single, so there’s no backup money,” she said. “It is rough. It’s hard to replace a job you’ve had for 43 years. You spend a lot of time just worrying about your future and what’s going to happen.”

She believes the added support from the editorial department will “help us greatly.”

Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council, told striking workers gathered outside the Post-Gazette on the cold fall afternoon that they deserved more from the newspaper’s upper management.

“You did not do this,” he told the striking workers. “They did.”