The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette faces steep penalties for breaking federal labor law after the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday filed to enjoin the company for its unlawful behavior during and leading to the country’s longest-running strike. 

If fully granted, the injunction would compel the company to pay press workers (PPPWU), advertisers (CWA), and mailers (CWA) for health care costs caused by the Post-Gazette’s bad-faith bargaining and unilateral changes to union members’ health benefits. The injunction would also require the PG to return members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh to the terms of their illegally violated 2014-17 contract, which includes the collectively bargained health care plan. It would also force the company to actually meet its legal obligation to bargain in good faith with all four striking unions on successor contracts and any agreements on health care, among other requirements of labor law the PG has violated over the years.

“I’ve woken up every day for the past 22-plus months worried about making ends meet. I’ve been maced by PG-funded private security for simply picketing. I’ve had to postpone medical care as well as my wedding,” said Alexandra Wimley, a photojournalist on strike. “And while I’m extremely proud to be standing with my fellow strikers, fighting for what’s right, all of this could have been avoided if the company just followed the law. I’m looking forward to doing the job I love again when the Post-Gazette follows the law.”

Since 2012, the NLRB has won 74.1 percent of its injunction cases. 

“For too long, the owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have believed that there is one law for the little guys, and another for the millionaires and the billionaires getting rich off our backs,” said CWA President Claude Cummings, Jr. “But today’s enforcement action proves that we are all equal under the law and that, finally, the Post-Gazette will be held to account for their lawless treatment of working people.”

In October of 2022, the PG unilaterally cut off the health care of its production, advertising and distribution workers by refusing to pay a $19-per-week increase in health care costs. The workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Locals 14842 and 14827, and PPPWU, went on strike on Oct. 6, 2022.

The Post-Gazette has repeatedly violated federal labor law for years. Workers continued to do their jobs under an expired contract while the PG dragged those negotiations out for eight years. The PG continued to break labor law by bargaining in bad faith, making unilateral changes to working conditions, refusing to bargain over health care, and imposing terms on the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.

In the filing, the NLRB argues that the Post-Gazette simply will not follow federal labor law without a federal judge forcing it to do so. 

According to the Board’s petition, “Unless injunctive relief is immediately obtained, it may fairly be anticipated that PPG will continue its unlawful conduct during the proceedings before the Board and during subsequent proceedings before a court of appeals for an enforcement decree with the result that PPG’s employees will continue to be deprived of their rights guaranteed in the [National Labor Relations] Act.”

In January 2023, a federal administrative law judge ruled in workers’ favor and ordered the Post-Gazette to bargain in good faith. The PG has refused to comply. This led to the federal government accelerating enforcement, and pursuing an injunction.

“If you or your loved ones are struggling and you get caught stealing food to feed them, you will be immediately and repeatedly punished,” said Zack Tanner, striking interactive designer and Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “If you get caught breaking federal labor law, fleecing your employees to the tune of millions of dollars and inflicting years of suffering on us, our households, and our communities, well, we’ll see.”

The Post-Gazette could comply with the court’s order at any time. 

Failure to follow a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling would lead to a contempt ruling, exponentially multiplying fines, and the risk of owners and executives being detained.

Late last year, executives of Haven Salon & Spa in Wisconsin were taken into custody by U.S marshals for flouting a district court’s order over the spa’s violations of workers’ rights.

“The Post-Gazette’s attempts to delay, and thus deny, justice for these workers have been heartless and despicable,” said Mike Davis, CWA District 2-13 vice president. “But the Post-Gazette management and their attorneys underestimate our members’ strength and our resolve. We don’t back down. It has been a long wait, but one day longer is another day stronger. This injunction brings us closer to our goal.” 

“We are hopeful that the Blocks will not demonstrate the same contempt for the federal courts that they have shown their employees and this entire bargaining process,” said Marian Needham, executive vice president of the NewsGuild-CWA. “We are resolute in our intention to bargain a fair settlement for our members, and we will continue to fight until we get there.”

“With the money the Post-Gazette has spent on anti-union attorneys, private security firms, printing the paper at the Butler Eagle, which we estimate to be close to $12 million, they could have given every employee a raise and funded the health care instead of terminating it,” said PPPWU Local 24M/9N President Chris Lang. “This is our eighth year in negotiations and hopefully the 10(j) injunction will bring all of this nonsense to a close. The employees have given their lives to this company and deserve that respect.”

Supporters can donate to support the strikers by visiting unionprogress.com/donate

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled that striking union workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette were legally allowed to picket on company property and did not violate labor law by conducting pickets on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

The decision by a three-judge panel filed Wednesday is the latest in a string of legal losses by the company, which has been cited by the National Labor Relations Board for a series of unfair labor practices before and during a strike by five unions that began in October 2022. 

The company appealed a decision by the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court that denied its request for an injunction to end picketing at a warehouse it uses two nights a week on the city’s South Side to distribute papers it publishes and distributes using replacement workers.

“This affirms again that the workers on strike have been in the right and that the Post-Gazette continues to throw money away and burn it on legal cases rather than negotiating with employees,” said Zack Tanner, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. 

Tanner noted that an administrative law judge ruled in January 2023 that the company had bargained in bad faith for more than five years, causing the unions to go on an unfair labor practice strike. The company has appealed that order and refuses to bargain with the four unions that remain on strike, prompting the board to authorize filing an injunction that would order employees back to work. That injunction is still being prepared.

In the picketing case, the company claimed the workers were causing violence at the warehouse and were preventing the company from using its property in violation of trespassing laws. The court disagreed, saying the workers were “wholly peaceful” and short-term pickets didn’t result in an illegal taking of company property.

An appellate court previously overruled a Butler County court that limited picketing by Post-Gazette strikers at the Butler Eagle, where the PG is paying to have its paper printed.

Tanner said it is time for the Post-Gazette to negotiate rather than continue to file court cases “where they continually lose.”

You can read the full Superior Court ruling here.

Donate to the Pittsburgh Strike Relief Fund to support striking workers.

On Thursday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it is seeking an injunction pursuant to Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for dozens of ongoing unfair labor practice violations of federal law, 18 months after workers struck to compel the newspaper to follow the law and provide health insurance to workers.

In October of 2022, Post-Gazette management unilaterally cut off the health care of its production, advertising and distribution workers by refusing to pay a $19-per-week increase in health care costs. The workers, represented by CWA, PPPWU and Teamsters local unions, went on strike on Oct. 6. 

The Post-Gazette had already violated federal labor law with respect to its newsroom editorial workers — members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA  — in July of 2020 when it declared an illegal end to bargaining and unilaterally imposed new working conditions. Those imposed terms included a health care plan with costs that increased for families by as much as $13,000 per year, loss of a week of vacation, loss of protection from layoffs, and degraded work  jurisdiction — essentially undermining union workers’ right to their job duties. A federal administrative law judge in January 2023 ruled that Post-Gazette management didn’t negotiate in good faith, illegally imposed working conditions and unlawfully surveilled workers engaged in union activities.

“As striking workers, we’ve stood strong against Post-Gazette management and the Block family for the last 18 months as they’ve violated labor law and tried to ignore and break our unions,” said Zack Tanner, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “Today’s signal that the NLRB will finally be seeking injunctive relief through the courts is validation that our fight is just and will be won in short order.”

The NLRB encourages parties to resolve cases by settlement rather than litigation whenever possible, and more than 90% of meritorious unfair labor practice cases are settled by agreement at some point in the process, according to the NLRB. Post-Gazette representatives, however, have repeatedly rejected basic settlements. They have also refused to bargain in good faith, a violation of federal law.

“It’s great that the NLRB is seeking an injunction against Post-Gazette management for repeatedly breaking federal law,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “Employers cannot be allowed to actively harm workers. The Post-Gazette could settle this and limit their liability at any time. The NewsGuild-CWA will continue to fight for journalists and media workers in Pittsburgh and across the continent.”

Post-Gazette management has hired police and private security to intimidate and threaten strikers. 

“I’ve had my life and safety directly threatened by the PG’s hired ‘security’ on numerous occasions during the strike,” said Andrew Goldstein, striking education reporter and Post-Gazette unit chair of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “Months ago a couple of these ‘security’ contractors hired by the PG — seething my name — tried to follow me into a gas station bathroom after a picket. I look forward to labor law actually being enforced, both for my safety, and the work I want to get back to doing with a hell of a lot more dignity at the paper I’ve read as long as I could read.”

“The Post-Gazette has had the ability to settle the strike at any time, simply by complying with the law, as ordered by the courts and through NLRB decisions,” said Mike Davis, Vice President of CWA District 2-13. “It is unfortunate that the Post-Gazette’s continued unlawful violation of workers’ rights has undermined the rule of law and forced the government to seek an injunction to achieve justice.”

Supporters can donate to the strikers and subscribe to the striking-worker run publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress at unionprogress.com.

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh resolutely disagrees with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PG) management’s denial of the grievance filed by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh over the paper’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create an illustration for a print edition last month.

“Once again, Post-Gazette management showed that they have zero respect for the union workers at the newspaper,” said Zack Tanner, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “We will not let our jobs be replaced because management decides that they can ignore our demands and put out a lesser product without us, the Pittsburgh community deserves better than what Stan Wischnowski is giving it.”

Last week, PG human resources representatives denied the grievance, which comes as the ongoing unfair labor practice (ULP) strikes at the paper extend into their 17th month.

Despite the fact that the union filed this grievance with PG executive editor Stan Wischnowski and requested a newsroom representative to attend the hearing, neither he nor any member of the newsroom were present to discuss the critical implications of using AI in the workplace.

The company offered no reasoning for its denial.

Since the strike commenced, the PG has hired at least 26 strikebreaking replacement scab workers in the newsroom. The union workers at the PG stand firmly that the use of AI to generate content covered by union jurisdiction is yet another slap in the face to worker’s rights at the newspaper.

“Using AI to create entire illustrations from nothing but a few descriptive words is like using a website to make a medical diagnosis based on a few symptoms,” said Jen Kundrach, a PG page designer and illustrator on strike. 

“AI cannot replace the skill and talent of a human being,” Kundrach said. “But that won’t stop greedy business owners from attempting to use it to replace skilled artists.”

Production, distribution and advertising workers at the PG commenced a ULP strike on Oct. 6, 2022, over the loss of their health care plan due to the PG’s lack of payment that amounted to $19 per week per worker. Newsroom workers commenced their own ULP strike on Oct. 18, 2022, in response to the PG’s years of bad-faith bargaining and unilateral gutting of their collective bargaining agreement.

Our return to work demands have remained the same throughout the strike:

• End the illegally declared impasse to contract negotiations.
• Undo the unilaterally imposed working conditions and reinstate the terms of the 2014-17 newsroom contract.
• Return to the contract bargaining table to reach a fair contract with the journalists represented by the NewsGuild.
• Meet the health care demands of our striking sister unions.

On Jan. 26, 2023, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled overwhelmingly in favor of newsroom workers, ordering the company to rescind the unilateral working conditions it had imposed in 2020, and restore the union’s previous contract, which expired in 2017, as well as ordering the company to return to the bargaining table in a good-faith effort to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. 

Company attorneys told union workers at the bargaining table that they disagreed with the decision and would appeal the ruling as far as possible. The case is currently awaiting a decision from the five-person NLRB.

Newsroom workers represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh vehemently denounce the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s (PG) use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create an illustration that was published in the Jan. 21, 2024, print edition of the newspaper. A formal grievance and information request were filed by the union to PG executive editor Stan Wischnowski on Monday morning.

“The Post-Gazette’s attempt to replace our labor with artificial intelligence is a serious concern to journalists not just in Pittsburgh, but all across the country,” said Zack Tanner, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “As newsroom jobs continue to disappear due to corporate greed and mismanagement, we stand firmly against any use of AI that takes work out of union members’ hands.”

The use of AI in the PG print edition comes as the unfair labor practice (ULP) strikes against the company sit in their 16th month. Production, distribution and advertising workers commenced a ULP strike on Oct. 6, 2022, over the loss of their health care plan due to the PG’s lack of payment that amounted to $19 per week per worker. Newsroom workers commenced their own ULP strike on Oct. 18, 2022, in response to the PG’s years of bad-faith bargaining and unilateral gutting of their collective bargaining agreement.

Since the strike commenced, the PG has hired at least 26 strikebreaking replacement scab workers in the newsroom. This weekend’s use of AI to generate content covered by union jurisdiction is yet another slap in the face to worker’s rights at the newspaper.

“As the PG resists working with us to put an end to this strike, they continue to sink to new lows in an effort to crank out whatever product they can cobble together,” said Jen Kundrach, a PG page designer and illustrator on strike. “That they’ve resorted to the use of inferior, AI generated images rather than custom art by a staff illustrator shows how little they must value the talent of their guild staff. They’d rather squander that talent and put out a subpar newspaper than come to the table and reach a fair agreement with us.”

Our return to work demands have remained the same throughout the strike:

• End the illegally declared impasse to contract negotiations.
• Undo the unilaterally imposed working conditions and reinstate the terms of the 2014-17 newsroom contract.
• Return to the contract bargaining table to reach a fair contract with the journalists represented by the NewsGuild.
• Meet the health care demands of our striking sister unions.

On Jan. 26, 2023, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled overwhelming in favor of newsroom workers, ordering the company to rescind the unilateral working conditions it had imposed in 2020, and restore the union’s previous contract, which expired in 2017, as well as ordering the company to return to the bargaining table in a good-faith effort to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. 

Company attorneys told union workers at the bargaining table that they disagreed with the decision and would be appealing the ruling as far as they would be able to. The case is currently awaiting a decision from the five-person NLRB.

As the anniversary of the administrative law judge’s ruling approaches, striking workers will join other fighting union allies to discuss the barriers to success in U.S. labor law and its implementation, plus discuss how we will win the PG strike.

Supporters are encouraged to attend on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers Union Hall, located at 10 South 19th Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15203 in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats neighborhood.

“If John and Allan Block, Stan Wischnowski, Tracey DeAngelo, or any one else in PG management think that this fight is over, they are dead wrong,” Tanner said. “Workers on strike won’t stop fighting, because Pittsburgh deserves a newspaper created by union labor, not artificial intelligence or scab workers.”

As the unions that represent the production, distribution and advertising workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette commence a strike in response to the termination of their health care coverage and failed negotiations with the Post-Gazette and its parent company, Block Communications Inc., to reach an agreement on a new plan, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh stands with these striking workers in their fight for fair, affordable and comprehensive health care to allow them to care for themselves and their families. 

The Post-Gazette’s failure to offer a reasonable health care plan to the diligent and experienced workers who sell its ads, make its presses run and deliver its newspapers every single week is just another reminder that the Post-Gazette and its owners, John and Allan Block, care more about pinching pennies than treating their employees fairly.

In conjunction with the production, distribution and advertising strike, the Newspaper Guild is announcing that its members will immediately begin withholding their bylines from any physical or digital publication and will undertake other actions to stand in solidarity with our colleagues. 

“The workers of the Newspaper Guild stand with the production, distribution and advertising unionized workers at the Post-Gazette as they fight for a fair and just health care plan,” said Zack Tanner, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “The Block family has shown time and time again that they would rather pay their attorneys outrageous fees than give the workers who produce the product one benefit at all.”

Guild writers, editors, photographers, artists, designers and other journalists will remove their names from their work to indicate that they support the strike — and that they will not stand idly by as their co-workers are stripped of their health care coverage by the Post-Gazette’s multimillionaire ownership. 

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh is asking the community to stand with the production unions at the Post-Gazette currently on strike.

Newspaper Guild members are all too familiar with the miserly management of John and Allan Block, who for years have made it abundantly clear that they would rather spend millions to hire high-priced attorneys from Tennessee to try to bust their workers’ unions instead of reaching fair contracts with the employees whose hard work produces the news.

“Two years ago, we decided to embark on a legal strategy to fight the unlawful impasse and unilateral working conditions that the Post-Gazette forced upon its journalists,” said Tanner. “While our National Labor Relations Board hearing is still ongoing, this union will be standing strong behind our union colleagues as they enact a major job action against the Post-Gazette.”

The Newspaper Guild’s last contract with the company expired in March 2017, and unproductive contract bargaining continued until July 27, 2020, when the Post-Gazette illegally declared an impasse to bargaining and unilaterally imposed working conditions that lowered wages, reduced benefits and stripped away years of bargained protections for the 100-plus newsroom journalists represented by the Newspaper Guild. 

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh calls on the community to contact the publisher of the Post-Gazette, John Robinson Block, at johnrblock@theblade.com and request that he end the labor strife at the newspaper. 

The National Labor Relations Board’s Pittsburgh office has issued a long-awaited complaint against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and its parent company, Block Communications, Inc., for bad-faith bargaining and other improper conduct in its contract talks with the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.

The complaint, dated Wednesday, April 27, 2022, and filed by NLRB Regional Director Nancy Wilson, said the company “bargained with no intention of reaching agreement” by “insisting upon proposals that are predictably unacceptable to the union.” It orders the company to attend a hearing before an administrative law judge Sept. 12, 2022 to respond to the charges.

This once again proves what Newspaper Guild leadership has been saying for years, that the company has acted in bad faith against the workers that create its award winning product, and that they would rather spend millions of dollars on an out-of-state attorney rather than the journalists who report the news.

The Guild’s last contract with the company expired in March 2017 and unproductive contract bargaining continued until July 27, 2020, when the company declared an impasse to bargaining and unilaterally imposed working conditions that lowered wages, reduced benefits, and stripped away years of bargained protections for over 100 newsroom journalists represented by the Newspaper Guild. Since then, the Post-Gazette has assigned work normally done by union members to managers and freelance writers, has denied earned vacation time to the most senior members, and has hired new employees at positions and wages not agreed to in previous bargaining sessions with the Guild. These actions have led the Guild to file a series of grievances and unfair labor practice charges. 

The company and Guild have negotiated a series of concessionary contracts in recent years and union members haven’t had an across-the-board raise since 2006.

“This complaint supports what we have been saying all along — the company has had no interest in reaching a new contract and has been out to break the union,” said Ed Blazina, the union’s acting president. “Now, it is time for the company to be held responsible for its illegal actions.”

In addition to bad-faith bargaining, the complaint says the company acted illegally by taking photographs and video of union members when they held rallies or demonstrations to express concern about the lack of progress in contract bargaining.

The complaint about bad-faith bargaining comes on the heels of a ruling late last year by a U.S. Circuit Court that the Post-Gazette and BCI illegally changed health care benefits during contract negotiations. As a result, the company had to pay members more than $100,000 plus interest to reimburse them for health-care costs that would have been covered under the previous insurance.

“Our great hope is that the company can see that the writing is on the wall and they should drop their outrageous attempts to break this union,” Blazina said. “Through all of this turmoil, our members have continued to do award-winning work, even winning a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Tree of Life shootings in Squirrel Hill. It’s time for this company to do the right thing and settle this labor dispute.”

The NLRB complaint can be found here.

Contact: Ed Blazina, 412-773-2242, pghguild@gmail.com

Union journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, on Thursday will mark five years since the expiration of their last collectively bargained contract, which was signed on October 14, 2014, and expired on March 31, 2017.

In order to commemorate the day, NewsGuild members will hold an “Unhappy Anniversary” action at 12 p.m. on North Shore Drive in front of the Post-Gazette newsroom. Members will then deliver an anniversary card to the newsroom that, among other things, lists the many accomplishments that PG journalists have achieved over the past five years, including a Pulitzer Prize and dozens of other national, state, and local awards.   

In the five years since the contract expired, PG parent company Block Communications Inc. has spent millions of dollars fighting their own workers at the bargaining table and illegally and unilaterally slashing benefits. Those benefit cuts included increasing the cost of and reducing the coverage in health care, cutting vacation time for the most senior workers, and reducing jurisdiction and job security language. To top it all off, the journalists at the PG have not had a collective raise since 2006.

This reprehensible behavior culminated on July 27, 2020, when the PG illegally declared an impasse at bargaining and unilaterally imposed work rules onto journalists at the paper.

“It is hard to believe Block Communications has been so willing to spend millions on out-of-town, union-busting attorneys rather than its own loyal employees,” said Ed Blazina, the union’s interim president. “In that same five years, our members have continued to do exemplary work, including winning a Pulitzer Prize, and providing award-winning coverage during the pandemic. It’s sad that we are five years from the expiration of our last contract and the Post-Gazette has yet to show interest in negotiating a fair contract.”

NewsGuild members have pushed back, staging public actions and rallies and filing multiple unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board in an effort to get the PG to bargain in good faith to secure the future for workers and a strong newspaper for the Pittsburgh community.

“We hope that by highlighting the award-winning work of the journalists at the PG in the absurd amount of time that we’ve worked without a contract, we’re able to collectively show ownership that the workers of their paper deserve their fair share,” said Zack Tanner, Post-Gazette unit chair.

The Post-Gazette is a community asset that the Newspaper Guild wants to preserve, but reaching a fair agreement that benefits the award-winning journalists is paramount to maintaining quality journalism in Pittsburgh.