Author: alexrmccann

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh on strike: Day 3

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Members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh have been on strike for three days now.

And every single day, our strength grows.

On Thursday, we had our biggest crowd yet outside the Post-Gazette newsroom on the North Shore.

Striking workers on the picket line Thursday morning.

An ever-growing crowd of on-strike PG workers — joined for the second straight day by several new strikers — marched outside the newsroom, making their voices heard with chants like, “Fair contract now!” and “When we fight, we win!”

In addition to the workers, a host of local lawmakers came out to show their support and stand in solidarity Thursday morning.

Those lawmakers joined the picket line, posed for photos and had plenty of great conversations with strikers.

Pittsburgh-area lawmakers and officials pose for a photo on the picket line Thursday. From left: Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council President Darrin Kelly, state Rep. Jessica Benham, Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb, state Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik, state Rep. Nick Pisciottano, state Sen. Lindsay Williams, state Rep. Dan Miller, state Rep. Sara Innamorato, and state Rep. and U.S. House candidate Summer Lee.

In attendance were: state Reps. Jessica Benham, Anita Astorino Kulik, Sara Innamorato, Summer Lee, Dan Miller and Nick Pisciottano; state Sen. Lindsay Williams; Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor; former Pennsylvania state Auditor Eugune DePasquale; Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb; and Deputy City Controller Rachael Heisler.

The Guild thanks these lawmakers for coming out to join the picket line and stand with us!

A few hours later, the Guild was delighted to formally announce the creation of the CWA Pittsburgh Strikers Fund, a solidarity fund created to financially support the striking PG workers.

Donations to the Pittsburgh Striker Fund are being used exclusively to assist striking PG workers and their families who are facing difficult financial circumstances. The fund is being managed by the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia/TNG-CWA Local 38010 and The NewsGuild-CWA.

The NewsGuild-CWA immediately contributed $10,000 to the fund, and additional donations to the fund continued to roll in throughout the day.

“A union is a family,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss, who has joined the striking workers in Pittsburgh. “We stand for each other because we care about each other. This fund is in place to help those who hit extreme hardships so that we can take care of them.”

Guild member Steve Rotstein, left, NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss and others on the picket line Thursday.

Meanwhile, a small group of strikers once again headed into Downtown Pittsburgh, this time visiting the Market Square Farmers Market.

The group chatted with passersby about the strike and how the public can help to support the PG’s workers. They also snapped a quick group photo outside the Market Square Starbucks to show solidarity with Starbucks Workers United.

Striking workers and NewsGuild staffers pose outside the Market Square Starbucks on Thursday.

To cap off the day, a handful of striking Guild members attended “Off the Record” at the Byham Theater.

Those strikers set up a table in the lobby; spoke to attendees; and passed out handbills containing information about the strike, future actions and how the public can support the PG’s workers.

Guild members Melissa Tkach, left, and Andrew Goldstein take a selfie while Ed Blazina, rear, speaks to an “Off the Record” attendee.

When the show started, emcee Ken Rice made special note of what was happening at the PG — “a group that we all know is under tremendous strain right now, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh” — which received a loud cheer from the audience.

Special thanks to former Guild members R.J. Hufnagel and Sharon Eberson Axelrod, plus all the other “Off the Record” organizers, for giving the Guild a chance to spread our message.

On Friday, striking Post-Gazette workers will be outside the North Shore newsroom from 9 to 5. Additionally, we’ll have a special announcement about our soon-to-launch strike publication.

This post was updated Friday with a more complete list of lawmakers who attended Thursday morning.

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh on strike: Day 2

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On Wednesday — Day 2 of the Newspaper Guild’s unfair labor practice strike against the Post-Gazette — our striking workers formed three separate picket lines as we continue our strike against the PG and the illegal working conditions its owners, the Blocks, have forced on all of us.

Striking Post-Gazette members are joined by three union brothers from IUE-CWA Local 22 outside the PG newsroom on the North Shore.

The first picket line was on the North Shore outside the PG newsroom, where the wind and rain didn’t dampen our spirits in the slightest.

Members of the Guild were joined by Connor Lewis from the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, who drove in from State College; NewsGuild of New York organizer Nolan Rosenkrans’ twin brother, Sean; and members of the Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council.

Barbara Vancheri, former PG movie editor and Guild member, also came down to offer support and cookies from Carnegie Science Center. Voodoo Brewery, just across the street, sent over pizza later in the afternoon, and the worker who delivered them voiced support for our cause. And three union brothers from IUE-CWA Local 22 stopped by with handwarmers — and to pose for a quick photo with us!

Striking PG workers form a picket line outside the U.S. Steel Tower in Downtown Pittsburgh.

A group of about 10 formed a second line outside the U.S. Steel Tower, home of one of the PG’s biggest advertisers, UPMC, and spoke to community members in Downtown Pittsburgh about our mission to keep the PG strong.

Striking Guild member Gillian McGoldrick, left, is joined on her one-woman picket line in Harrisburg by Spotlight PA reporters and Philly NewsGuild members Stephen Caruso, Kate Huangpu and Angela Couloumbis.

And a third picket line outside the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg was led by a single Guild member, the phenomenal Gillian McGoldrick, who was joined in solidarity by three Spotlight PA reporters and NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia members.

Spotlight PA is also refusing to allow the PG to use its reporting during the strike. 

On social media, the outpouring of support has continued from labor unions and elected officials.

The Major League Baseball Players Association stands with us, and the United Steelworkers International Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union have pulled advertising from the Post-Gazette.

Guild members will be picketing outside the PG’s North Shore newsroom from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday. We will also be in Market Square from noon until 2:30 p.m.

Come join us and stand in solidarity with our fight to win a fair contract for all our workers!

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh newsroom workers begin unfair labor practice strike against Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Newsroom workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, began a strike against the company at noon Tuesday and kicked off a daylong action outside the PG newsroom on the North Shore.

Newspaper Guild journalists picket outside the Post-Gazette newsroom on Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, the Guild sent a notice to Post-Gazette management to demand 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, and return to the contract bargaining table to reach a fair contract.

The Post-Gazette failed to meet those demands, and Guild members voted to authorize an unfair labor practice strike.

Longtime Guild member Karen Carlin speaks on the picket line Tuesday.

“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,” Guild President Zack Tanner said Tuesday on the picket line.

“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 disagrees with that.”

The strike quickly received an outpouring of support from elected officials, fellow journalists and community members across the Pittsburgh region.

The striking Newspaper Guild workers will continue their actions Wednesday at noon, both outside the Post-Gazette newsroom and at the U.S. Steel Tower.

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh calls on readers, advertisers, business and labor leaders,
politicians and other members of the community to contact the publisher of the Post-Gazette,
John Block, at johnrblock@theblade.com and impress upon him the importance of ending the
labor strife at his newspaper by reaching a fair contract with the Guild.

Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh newsroom workers authorize unfair labor practice strike against Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

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The newsroom workers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, voted on Monday to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against the company.

On Monday, the Guild sent a notice to Post-Gazette management to demand 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, and return to the contract bargaining table to reach a fair contract with the 101 journalists the Guild represents.

If the Post-Gazette fails to meet those demands, Guild journalists will commence a strike at noon Tuesday.

“The workers who produce the Post-Gazette are taking a stand against the hostile and illegal treatment at the hands of John and Allan Block,” said Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh President Zack Tanner. “We, the workers, are standing together today, ready to fight to win back our contract and work toward signing a new collective bargaining agreement that preserves the Post-Gazette for the Pittsburgh region.”

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has been in negotiations for a contract with PG management since 2017. The PG’s union-busting attorneys bargained in bad faith for 3½ years. On July 27, 2020, the PG unlawfully declared an impasse to negotiations, despite the Guild’s bargaining committee noting that negotiations were not even close to an impasse and that the Guild was willing to continue discussions to reach an agreement.

But despite that, the PG illegally and unilaterally imposed new working conditions on the journalists of the Newspaper Guild, cutting their wages, taking vacation time away from veteran workers, farming out their work to non-Guild workers and forcing them onto a health insurance plan that offers less coverage at a higher price.

The Newspaper Guild subsequently filed unfair labor practice charges against the Post-Gazette over these violations of their workers’ rights. Over five days in September and October, these unfair labor practice charges were argued by the National Labor Relations board in front of an administrative law judge. The PG newsroom workers are taking this action while anticipating a major victory coming out of this hearing.

The owners of the Post-Gazette, Block Communications Inc., led by twin brothers John and Allan Block, have spent millions of dollars to try to bust their workers’ unions rather than attempting to reach a fair contract with the writers, editors, photographers, artists, designers and other journalists whose hard work has provided the Pittsburgh community with award-winning journalism since the late 1700s.

If the Guild workers’ demands to restore their contract are not met, then journalists will strike, joining a picket line alongside their co-workers from the production, distribution and advertising unions, who are already out on their own unfair labor practice strike against the PG. The Blocks, as they did during negotiations with the Newspaper Guild, chose to bargain in bad faith with the production, distribution and advertising unions, and they chose to strip those workers of their health care plan rather than reach a deal.

“These journalists are just trying to do their jobs in service of the people of Pittsburgh,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss. “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.”

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh calls on readers, advertisers, business and labor leaders, politicians and other members of the community to contact the publisher of the Post-Gazette, John Block, at johnrblock@theblade.com and impress upon him the importance of ending the labor strife at his newspaper by reaching a fair contract with the Guild.