Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Strikers Vow to Carry On

Last week, striking production and advertising workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PPG) accepted a buyout offer after the newspaper outsourced production of its print edition, eliminating 31 union jobs. Journalists and newsroom staff represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061) remain on strike.

“The Post-Gazette chose to outsource jobs rather than do the right thing and bargain,” said CWA District 2-13 Vice President Mike Davis. “They have not bargained in good faith, but we have stood together to negotiate the best possible severance package for the production and advertising workers. As always, we have their backs, and we know that they will continue to stand in solidarity with our striking journalists for justice at the Post-Gazette.”

With some workers having been on strike for 29 months, CWA’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike is the longest-running current strike in America. Journalists, editors, artists, and other workers went on an unfair labor practice strike demanding the company bargain in good faith and restore the terms of the contract it illegally, unilaterally tore up, including slashes to health care, time off, and other core tenets of any union contract.

“They leave this strike with best wishes and admiration from the members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh,” wrote striking PPG journalist and member of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA Ed Blazina. “We are proud to have stood alongside these folks during this bitter strike. And we will carry on striking with their fight and sacrifice very much in our minds and hearts. For two and a half years, they have fought against an employer set on destroying them. Our union siblings have simply made the best deal they can so they can move on with their lives. For us Guild members, the strike goes on as we are in a different position.”

On February 27, a 3rd Circuit Court panel of judges heard oral arguments from the company and the National Labor Relations Board over a request by the board to enjoin the company to restore the terms of the contract it unlawfully discarded in 2020. Strikers are awaiting a decision any day now.

Visit Pittsburgh Union Progress to read more.

To support striking workers and families, you can do any of these three things today:

1. Donate to the strike fund that's used to pay for rent, utility bills, car repairs, groceries, and to keep their pets alive and well.
    
2. Order a T-shirt repping their strike publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress. All proceeds go to the same strike fund.
    
3. Subscribe to the Pittsburgh Union Progress for free news on the strike, the lives of working people in Western PA and beyond, and more.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.