Post-Gazette contract talks continue Thursday

Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette union members and management negotiated for about four hours Monday, guided by a federal mediator, with talks scheduled to continue Thursday.

The bargaining session, the first in more than two years, followed a walkout by Post-Gazette pressmen, drivers and other unions Oct. 6 to protest the company’s switch in health care plans and benefit changes.

Members of the Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild, which represented about 100 reporters and photographers, joined the other unions on the picket line Oct. 18 at the direction of the larger Communications Workers of America, which the Guild is part of, with about 40 reporters choosing instead to continue to work. An unknown number have since resigned from the union.

Post-Gazette management described Monday’s talks as “constructive,” a view that wasn’t shared by the union.

“We are encouraged and look forward to the next meeting,” company spokesperson Allison Latcheran said in a statement.

Guild President Zack Tanner was less optimistic, saying the union had come to the talks in “good faith to work toward ending the strike and getting back to work,” adding that “it was unfortunate to see that the Post-Gazette decided to not match our effort.”

Mr. Tanner said the company presented what was essentially its July 2020 contract offer “that was not agreeable then and isn’t agreeable now.”

But he expressed hope that Thursday’s session would be more constructive and that “we can work more seriously in good faith to reach an agreement.”

The strike at the Post-Gazette is the first newspaper walkout in Pittsburgh since 1992, when total daily U.S. newspaper circulation was 60.1 million, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan Washington, D. C., think tank. By 2020, daily newspaper circulation had fallen nationally 60% to an estimated 24.3 million, while newspaper advertising revenue during the same period fell two-thirds to $9.6 billion from $30.6 billion. Against the backdrop of significant print declines, news organizations like the Post-Gazette have seen significant increases in digital audience and subscriptions.

The Guild is seeking restoration of the terms of its 2014-2017 contract, which included a richer health insurance plan. An unfair labor practice complaint challenging new terms of employment that were enacted after the company declared an impasse in negotiations in July 2020 is pending before the National Labor Relations Board.

A ruling on that complaint is expected in the next few months.