Pittsburgh newspaper workers go on strike over unfair labor practice
More than 100 workers represented by five labor unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are currently on an unfair labor practice strike, including production, distribution, advertising and accounts receivable staff.
The strike initially began after the newspaper’s management, Block Communications owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on 1 October after refusing to pay an additional $19 a week per employee to maintain the existing coverage.
“Having health insurance is one of the most important parts of the middle class. It was the final straw for us – we were able to say this was an unfair labor practice and we walked off the job,” said Kitsy Higgins, an advertising representative who’s been at the Post-Gazette for one year.
Higgins said the newspaper’s management had tried to get workers to accept a healthcare plan with a $14,000 deductible that they rejected because it was unaffordable to use.
“It’s a shame that Block Communications, a multimillion-dollar company, isn’t putting their money into the people creating this prize-winning newspaper. They’re putting money into attorneys who are greatly affecting the outcome of that. If they would have invested their money into workers, we wouldn’t be having this strike and I’d be at work,” added Higgins. “This is unfair and we will continue being on strike until we get a fair agreement.”
The strike is unfolding in a US media industry that has seen widespread layoffs over the past decade with newspapers hit especially hard.
Workers at the Post-Gazette have been working without a union contract since March 2017, claiming they haven’t received any pay raises in 16 years.
“We had no alternative but to strike,” said James VanLandingham, a mailer at the Post-Gazette for 28 years. “Over the years, they’ve always paid for our healthcare. Once Block senior passed away, the two nephews took over and everything went downhill. They’ve totally disregarded all of their employees.”
VanLandingham noted the influx of community support for the strike, with local unions pulling advertisements from the newspaper and support for a call for subscribers and advertisers to boycott the newspaper until workers’ demands are met and management bargains in good faith for a new union contract.
Workers have also launched a strike publication, Pittsburgh Union Progress, as an alternative to the Post-Gazette during the strike.
In Washington DC, the newspaper’s DC bureau chief, Ashley Murray, led a picket protest with dozens of supporters at the US Capitol on 25 October.
“I would much rather be in the halls of Congress today covering our lawmakers or working on stories about the midterm elections that are in two weeks,” Murray told the crowd of supporters. “Instead of reporting or taking photographs or designing the pages of our daily newspaper, my colleagues are out on the picket line in Pittsburgh because the owner of our news outlet refuses to come to the bargaining table and work out a deal.”
The newspaper recently won an injunction in Butler county court against the striking workers, limiting the number of picketers outside the Butler Eagle, a local newspaper that has crossed the strike line to continue a reduced service of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s operations during the strike.
“The Blocks haven’t responded to anything. Our unions have reached out to them numerous times since the strike began,” said VanLandingham. “We just want the public to know how disrespectful the Blocks are. In my family, I’m a third generation employee, my family has over 100 years of combined loyal employment to this newspaper. We enjoy putting out the newspaper, but the Blocks don’t care.”
A spokesperson for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in an emailed statement on 1 November praising the court injunction against picketers: “The PostGazette contacted a federal mediator yesterday in an effort to move forward with negotiations with the union.”