Weekend altercation at P-G distribution facility prompts police response
A physical altercation between union picketers and a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette delivery driver prompted a police response late Saturday at the company’s newspaper depot in Gateway View Plaza on West Carson Street.
The incident involved picketers from Post-Gazette unions, which have been on strike since October, and a driver who company officials said was “the target of repeated harassment.” Joseph J. Pass, an attorney representing the unions, called the incident an “unprovoked assault.”
Post- Gazette spokeswoman Allison Latcheran said Saturday’s altercation is the latest in a string of incidents in which union employees and supporters have confronted working employees. Those incidents, she said, include “verbally assaulting, threatening violence, shining spotlights to impair vision and damaging property, all while trespassing, in an attempt to prevent the Post-Gazette from continuing to distribute the newspaper.”
The Post-Gazette delivers print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. The printed newspapers are distributed to independent delivery drivers from the Gateway View facility.
Video footage of the altercation was captured by employees of an independent security firm contracted by the Post-Gazette. The incident happened about 11:09 p.m., according to the time stamp on the 25- second video.
Post-Gazette officials said in a statement that 10 to 15 union picketers surrounded the driver. About a halfdozen can be seen in the video.
The footage shows one picketer shouting obscenities at the driver, who is standing near the driver’s side of a Penske box truck. The individual continues shouting as he moves closer to the driver, who the PostGazette did not identify.
The video shows the picketer pick up an object that appears to be a flashlight and then take three or four quick steps toward the driver. As he gets within inches of the driver, the driver appears to either shove or strike the picketer, who in turn falls to the ground, the footage shows.
The camera angle then moves back toward the truck and shows the driver and another individual scuffling, and both ultimately fall to the ground under the box truck.
Mr. Pass said one picketer suffered a broken jaw that required surgery. A statement from the Guild did not name the injured picketer but indicated he is a member of the Teamsters.
Ms. Latcheran said the driver’s clothing was ripped and his cell phone went missing during the incident.
It was not immediately clear if any criminal charges were filed in connection with the altercation. A police spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. It was not clear if Pittsburgh police were detailed to the area as they have been previously.
In mid-February, the PostGazette filed a lawsuit against Mayor Ed Gainey and the city’s top public safety officials, accusing police of failing to stop alleged destructive and violent picketing outside the South Side facility. The lawsuit further contends that police were told in an internal memo not to intervene in any trespassing at the depot.
A hearing in that matter is scheduled for Monday. The company also is seeking a court order to stop picketers from trespassing at the distribution center.
The Post-Gazette has previously sought and won an injunction against mass picketing outside a Butler County printing facility that was also the target of union protests. The injunction was granted in November, about a month after the Butler Eagle began printing the Post-Gazette. On Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled that injunction would be put on hold while a lower court considered appeals filed by the striking unions.
Members of four of five Post-Gazette unions walked off the job Oct. 6 in protest of a new health insurance plan that shifted a greater share of costs to employees, saying the change was not bargained as required by their contract. The new coverage roughly doubled monthly premium costs for union members with benefits provided by a high-deductible plan.
Some members of the Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild, which represents newsroom employees, walked out Oct. 18 under pressure of dissolution by parent union Communications Workers of America.
About 60 newsroom employees are continuing to work while roughly 40 others are on the picket line, according to preliminary numbers. The ranks of striking members have been thinned by union members who have found other jobs.