Union members at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are moving closer to a strike.
On Monday, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh said its parent union, NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America, unanimously approved their strike vote.
“A decision to strike is never made lightly,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss. “This one comes amid a worldwide pandemic and resulting economic crisis. It underscores the attack on more than 120 award-winning journalists, whose repeated attempts to engage the company in good faith bargaining have yielded no results.”
The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh is part of NewsGuild, which is part of the Communications Workers of America. Guild members voted to authorize a strike in August.
Before it can take place, a strike must be approved by NewsGuild’s executive council, and by CWA President Christopher Shelton. Last week, the 10-member NewsGuild executive council unanimously approved the vote. The Guild will now continue with strike preparations and present a plan to CWA.
Newspaper Guild President Michael Fuoco said the Guild is still negotiating with Post-Gazette management in hopes of avoiding the action.
“The possibility of a strike is up to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,” Fuoco said. “They’re leaving us with no option but to do something.”
The labor dispute between union members and P-G ownership has gone on for more than three years. In November, members voted they had “no confidence” in the paper’s leadership and Ohio-based Block Communications Inc. That vote was followed by a month-long byline strike.
The Block family has owned the Post-Gazette since 1927. Block Communications could not be reached for comment Monday.
In July, the Guild accused Post-Gazette management of unlawfully declaring a contract impasse, as they negotiated management’s proposed cuts to health benefits, severance packages and vacation time. Management also proposed to eliminate the right to dispute issues through grievances and arbitration, Fuoco told the Tribune-Review last month.
“The staff of the Post-Gazette was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s top honor, in 2019 for its coverage of the Tree of Life massacre,” NewsGuild Executive Vice President Marian Needham said in a statement. “And what’s their reward? An unrelenting assault on the bargaining process, their contract and their careers by Post-Gazette management.”
P-G management also lost their challenge to the Guild’s health care arbitration in federal court Monday. 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.
On the federal court win, Fuoco was exasperated. Under the P-G contract, he said, arbitration board decisions are supposed to be final, but staff members were taken to court anyway.
“I guarantee they’re going to appeal it,” Fuoco said, referring to P-G management. “They would rather spend money on carpetbagging attorneys than on Pulitzer Prize-winning staff members.
“We keep winning and they keep appealing,” he added. “It’s ridiculous to be treated like this.”
