Post-Gazette accuses its unions of ‘bad-faith’ bargaining as possible strike looms

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s leadership is accusing the news organization’s unions of violating bargaining rules as the newsroom prepares for a possible strike.

The P-G’s Tennessee-based legal team filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against five unions representing about 200 employees, including reporters, photographers, copy editors, pressmen and drivers as well as workers in mailing, advertising and finance.

The charge claims that union “tactics” have made “negotiations an exercise in futility.”

“The union has refused to bargain in good faith with the company by employing a strategy to stretch out negotiations and avoiding, delaying and/or refusing to meet to negotiate a successor collective bargaining agreement,” states the one-page NLRB charge. It is dated Wednesday and signed by Nashville attorney Richard C. Lowe.

Michael A. Fuoco, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents 123 newsroom employees, balked at the filing. 

“The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and the four other unions that have been mistreated for nearly four years by the Post-Gazette owners and their carpetbagging attorneys from Tennessee are beyond appalled at the allegation of bad-faith bargaining,” Fuoco said. “This would be laughable if it weren’t so untruthful and serious.”

Fuoco said, “It’s more evidence they do not want peace and they do not want a settlement.”

Representatives for P-G management and its parent company, Block Communications, did not immediately return requests for comment.

In July, the Guild accused Post-Gazette management of unlawfully declaring an impasse and implementing management’s proposed cuts to health benefits, severance packages and vacation time. Management also sought to eliminate the right to dispute issues through grievances and arbitration, Fuoco said.

On Monday, the Guild’s parent union, the NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America, approved the strike that was authorized by a majority of the union’s members in August. NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss said that the Guild’s “repeated attempts to engage the company in good faith bargaining have yielded no results.”

Before it can commence, CWA’s executive board and CWA President Christopher Shelton must approve the strike. The Guild continues to make strike preparations, Fuoco said.

It’s unclear if or when an actual work stoppage might begin.

Also on Monday, P-G management lost their challenge to the Guild’s health care arbitration in federal court. An arbitrator in December had ruled that management be required to continue providing health benefits agreed upon during post-contract-term negotiation, despite the increased cost. P-G management asked the court to vacate the ruling — but a federal judge upheld the award.