Striking Post-Gazette workers send company return-to-work offer

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strikers on Monday offered to return to work — a move that could signal the end of their lengthy strike.

The strikers offered to return to work on Nov. 24 at the Post-Gazette’s North Shore office, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh said. Their return-to-work offer asked the company to inform strikers if they are being asked to report at a different time or place.

On strike for more than three years, the Guild members voted Thursday to make the return-to-work offer, with 84% voting in favor, the Guild said. Their action follows a federal court panel decision in their favor last week.

When workers vote to end an unfair labor practice strike and make a return-to-work offer like this one, the employer has five days to make arrangements to bring the strikers back, the Guild said. If on the sixth day the company has not returned strikers to work, it begins to owe them pay and the cost of the benefits under which they would be working.

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh President Andrew Goldstein said it’s possible the Post-Gazette could call the strikers back to work tomorrow, but that’s “unlikely.”

“If they don’t have us return … on Day 6, what happens is pay starts to accrue for us — that includes not just our salary but any of the benefits we’d be getting starts to accrue with interest,” said Goldstein, a striking education reporter. “However long the PG keeps us out … that’s how long the pay will accrue for.”

A Post-Gazette spokesperson told TribLive Monday the company had no comment on the strikers’ return-to-work offer.

Post-Gazette journalists have been on strike since October 2022. There are 26 strikers remaining in the Guild, Goldstein said, which has dropped from around 60 originally. There were around 120 total strikers among all of the unions when it began, he said.

“The wheels of justice move nowhere near quickly enough. But it’s clear that our sacrifice has made this day and the soon-to-be improved working conditions at the Post-Gazette possible,” Goldstein said. “They could’ve saved so much money and trouble by listening to us then. It’s certainly time for them to listen to us now, comply with the order and get down to bargaining a new contract with the old contract in place.”

The strikers’ announcement comes one week after a federal appeals court panel ruled in favor of the striking journalists at the Post-Gazette, which was a major victory for them. The Nov. 10 decision by three judges on the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals stated that the Post-Gazette bargained in bad faith while trying to agree on a new contract.

However, the Post-Gazette announced on the evening of Nov. 10 that it would appeal the decision.

“We will appeal to the full Third Circuit Court of Appeals. We believe this ruling goes against both Third Circuit and Supreme Court precedent, and we are hopeful that the full Court will recognize the serious errors in the panel’s decision,” the Post-Gazette said in a statement. “If allowed to stand, this decision will likely force the closure of the Post-Gazette — ending nearly 240 years of continuous service to the people of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was formed in 1927 by Paul Block, the grandfather of John and Allan Block. John Block is the newspaper’s publisher and editor-in-chief. Allan Block is CEO of Block Communications Inc., the PG’s corporate parent.

Goldstein said the strikers hadn’t heard anything back from the Post-Gazette in response to their return-to-work offer as of 4:45 p.m. Monday.

“The court-ordered amount of compensation to workers — including those currently working at the PG — grows every day,” the Guild’s announcement said.

When he heard of the Post-Gazette’s intention to appeal the decision, Goldstein said he wasn’t surprised.

“The PG has every right to do that,” he said.

As of possibly closing the paper, Goldstein said “obviously we can’t control what the Blocks want to do.”

Strikers are planning to show up at the Post-Gazette’s office on Nov. 24 for work, according to Goldstein.

“We’re planning on being there next Monday morning unless told otherwise,” he said. “We want to work with them and hear what they have to say.”

Post-Gazette journalists, mailers, production workers and advertising staff went on strike in October 2022, but striking production and advertising workers accepted a buyout offer in March.

Journalists and newsroom staff represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh remained on strike. Over the past three years, some of the strikers moved on to new jobs. Others have continued to publish local news in the Pittsburgh Union Progress.

“While the Post-Gazette has spent the last several years tarnishing the paper’s reputation with the community it claims to serve, we have been able to restore and foster connections with Pittsburghers whose stories are often overlooked,” said striking copy editor and Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh first vice president Erin Hebert. “We look forward to returning to our jobs, uniting around a common goal of serving our community with strong union journalism and working through whatever challenges we will face when we are back inside.”