FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Moira Bulloch (mbulloch@cwa-union.org), CWA Communications, 202-434-1168; pghguild@gmail.com
Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism ignores the advice of more than 1,000 readers and local electeds to eclipse the Block family’s legacy of union-busting
PITTSBURGH — The incoming ownership of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Veneteloulis Institute for Local Journalism, is beginning its stewardship of the paper by cutting at least 40 percent of its staff, and 80 percent of former strikers.
PG employees started receiving offer letters Wednesday night before rejection letters arrived late Thursday afternoon. The Institute will formally take ownership of the publication on Monday, completing a sale by longtime owners, Block Communications, Inc.
“The people who held power to account, the people who fought back against one of the most lawless union-busting operations in the country are precisely who the PG’s new owners prioritized discarding,” said Andrew Goldstein, Post-Gazette education reporter and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.
Venetoulis chose to get rid of all but one of the seven Guild officers working at the PG, including multiple members of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, and, with one exception, every single journalist whose work regularly appeared in the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh’s strike publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress.
The Institute’s purchase followed a Jan. 7 announcement by BCI that it would be closing the PG. That decision — delivered to workers via a pre-recorded video screen shared on Zoom — came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a last-ditch appeal from the company, seeking to deny workers the collectively bargained health care plan the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals had ordered the PG to restore.
On Oct. 18, 2022 editorial workers at the Post-Gazette went on strike demanding dignified health care, good-faith bargaining, and the restoration of the contract the company had illegally discarded, which included a guaranteed work week, health insurance, short-term disability, vacations, and take-home pay.
In November of 2025, the 3rd Circuit Court enforced several previous rulings ordering the PG to restore the illegally torn-up contract, its health care plan, and to bargain in good faith with its workers. On Nov. 24, 2025, with all of their strike demands secured, members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh returned to work having won the longest strike in the city’s history.
The Venetoulis Institute, which was founded by Choice Hotels International chair Stewart Bainum Jr., chose to retain the leadership that executed an anti-union campaign deemed too indefensibly lawless by the Trump administration’s solicitor general.
The sale of the PG was announced on April 14. Workers were then offered the chance to re-interview for their jobs in 20-minute “conversations” — they were told not to call them interviews — with Institute executives.
Prior to the job cuts, more than 1,300 people had signed a petition welcoming new ownership, urging the Institute to fully staff the PG, and bargain with union journalists in good faith.
“Pittsburghers sent a clear message to the new owners that they were coming to a union town. The Institute’s response is a clear act of discrimination against the brave union journalists,” said Jon Schleuss, NewsGuild-CWA President. “We’ll continue to stand with ethical journalists who hold power to account, especially when it’s their employer.”
The Institute also received an open letter signed by Rep. Summer Lee and Rep. Chris Deluzio, the Pittsburgh-area statehouse and state senate delegation, as well as much of Pittsburgh city council and Allegheny County Council. That letter also welcomed new ownership and encouraged strong staffing and fair bargaining.
“It doesn’t matter how good I am at my job, or how eager I am to cover this city. Venetoulis doesn’t care about that. They just care that I’ve been a vocal and visible face of our strike and our union. Like all big corporations or whatever they’re pretending they’re not, we’re just numbers on a page to them. We wanted to give them a chance,” said Natalie Duleba, Post-Gazette web editor and Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Secretary. “But I’m part of a group of people who, for three years, proved that with grit, determination, and talent we can do things that people thought were impossible. So we’re going to have to sharply turn our efforts toward what we can build next.”
Shortly after the Blocks announced the then-impending closure of the Post-Gazette, union journalists and community members came together to form the Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting (PAPER) to explore alternatives to the Block-owned PG. Last month, prior to the sale, journalists and readers announced plans to launch a worker- and community-owned daily news outlet.
“Today, I’m livid, especially for my coworkers. Ultimately, journalists who are willing to sacrifice and fight will always be seen as a threat to people with Stewart Bainum money,” said Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette multimedia journalist. “By telling the stories of working-class Pittsburghers, their neighborhoods, needs and dreams, I’m eager to make good on that threat. I know we can do it, and own it, together.”
The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh remains the bargaining representative of editorial workers at the Post-Gazette.
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