Pittsburgh Guild authorizes unfair labor practice strike at Post-Gazette

The newsroom workers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, voted on Monday to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against the company.

On Monday, the Guild sent a notice to Post-Gazette management to demand that the company end its illegally declared impasse to contract negotiations, lift the unilaterally imposed working conditions and reinstate the terms of the previous collectively bargained contract, and return to the contract bargaining table to reach a fair contract with the 101 journalists the Guild represents.

If the Post-Gazette fails to meet those demands, Guild journalists will commence a strike at noon Tuesday.

“The workers who produce the Post-Gazette are taking a stand against the hostile and illegal treatment at the hands of John and Allan Block,” said Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh President Zack Tanner. “We, the workers, are standing together today, ready to fight to win back our contract and work toward signing a new collective bargaining agreement that preserves the Post-Gazette for the Pittsburgh region.”

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has been in negotiations for a contract with PG management since 2017. The PG’s union-busting attorneys bargained in bad faith for 3½ years. On July 27, 2020, the PG unlawfully declared an impasse to negotiations, despite the Guild’s bargaining committee noting that negotiations were not even close to an impasse and that the Guild was willing to continue discussions to reach an agreement.

But despite that, the PG illegally and unilaterally imposed new working conditions on the journalists of the Newspaper Guild, cutting their wages, taking vacation time away from veteran workers, farming out their work to non-Guild workers and forcing them onto a health insurance plan that offers less coverage at a higher price.

The Newspaper Guild subsequently filed unfair labor practice charges against the Post-Gazette over these violations of their workers’ rights. Over five days in September and October, these unfair labor practice charges were argued by the National Labor Relations board in front of an administrative law judge. The PG newsroom workers are taking this action while anticipating a major victory coming out of this hearing.

The owners of the Post-Gazette, Block Communications Inc., led by twin brothers John and Allan Block, have spent millions of dollars to try to bust their workers’ unions rather than attempting to reach a fair contract with the writers, editors, photographers, artists, designers and other journalists whose hard work has provided the Pittsburgh community with award-winning journalism since the late 1700s.

If the Guild workers’ demands to restore their contract are not met, then journalists will strike, joining a picket line alongside their co-workers from the production, distribution and advertising unions, who are already out on their own unfair labor practice strike against the PG. The Blocks, as they did during negotiations with the Newspaper Guild, chose to bargain in bad faith with the production, distribution and advertising unions, and they chose to strip those workers of their health care plan rather than reach a deal.

“These journalists are just trying to do their jobs in service of the people of Pittsburgh,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss. “It’s despicable for the Blocks to fight their own workers and disrespect their rights to have a union. They need to bargain in good faith now.”

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh calls on readers, advertisers, business and labor leaders, politicians and other members of the community to contact the publisher of the Post-Gazette, John Block, at johnrblock@theblade.com and impress upon him the importance of ending the labor strife at his newspaper by reaching a fair contract with the Guild.

Save Local News: Gannett Journalists Speak Out

Gannett journalists rally to Save Local News

Updated October 11

We hosted a virtual rally with Gannett journalists from around the country speaking about what they’ve gained from unionizing with The NewsGuild and what they’re fighting for at the bargaining table. We were joined by Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, New York State Senator James Skoufis and musician Billy Bragg.

Gannett workers are unionizing in droves, and they need your support in the fight for better wages, fully staffed newsrooms, and stronger benefits at work. This is how we will restore local news.

Screenshot of letter from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Frank Pallone

Statement on Pelosi’s call for tougher scrutiny of TEGNA takeover

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact (202) 434-1175

The following statement can be attributed to NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss:

NewsGuild-CWA members are thankful that Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Pallone have joined us in calling on the FCC to scrutinize the takeover attempt of TEGNA, one of the largest producers of local TV news. Hedge fund Standard General, backed by anonymous investors located in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere in the world, will treat TEGNA as just another part of its portfolio of casinos, cruise lines and other non-media properties.

The Speaker and Chairman rarely weigh in on cases like this, but their letter shows that they understand the threat posed by predators like Standard General.

Local news is being murdered by Wall Street firms who are only interested in cutting jobs to finance their debt. The FCC can stop this deal, protect local news and permit our members to serve the public with high quality local news.

The letter from the Speaker and the Chairman is just one more reason the FCC should closely examine this deal and then block it in its entirety. There are no concessions Standard General can make that would turn this deal into one which serves the public interest. As the union of America’s journalists and media workers, we proclaim that it’s time for private equity to stop slaughtering our country’s free press.

About The NewsGuild-CWA

The NewsGuild is the largest union of journalists and media workers in North America, representing about 27,000 workers in media, the public sector at nonprofits and other labor unions. The Guild is one of the fastest growing unions on the continent and is a sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents workers in telecommunications and information technology, the airline industry, health care, public service and education, manufacturing and other fields.

Nominations for NewsGuild officers will be January 7

The first virtual Nominating Conference of The NewsGuild-CWA will be held on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, beginning at 12 p.m. ET. 

Guild delegates to the 2022 Sector Conference voted to establish a virtual Nominating Conference to nominate NewsGuild officers. This change eliminates the need for delegates to travel to two separate conferences in the same year.

Continue reading “Nominations for NewsGuild officers will be January 7”
Gannett journalists walkout during lunch on August 11, 2022

Hundreds of Gannett journalists walk out over layoff threat

Hundreds of workers employed by Gannett-owned newsrooms are taking a coordinated lunch break today in response to a string of emails from upper management last week that threatened layoffs due to the company’s second quarter financials. According to Mike Reed, Chairman and CEO, Gannett must “responsibly and proactively [align] resources to our highest strategic priorities and [lower] costs to be in line with revenues.” 

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Graphic showing that Gannett CEO Mike Reed made more than 7.7 million in 2021 compared with $48,000 made by the median employee.

Gannett can’t be trusted to invest in journalists as it begs for special powers

Today Gannett announced that it is soon planning to cut jobs after CEO Mike Reed said the company was “facing strong headwinds” after reporting their second quarter financials. 

“Gannett has clearly shown it cannot be trusted to invest in journalists or its newsrooms and is prioritizing shareholders and executives over journalism,” said NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss. 

“As a journalist representing thousands of other journalists in North America, we scrutinize and hold companies accountable for their behavior,” he said. “Gannett’s SEC filings and actions against America’s journalists show it is incapable of being trusted.”

Continue reading “Gannett can’t be trusted to invest in journalists as it begs for special powers”
Protesters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on May 4, 2022.

NewsGuild: Abortion access is a health care right

Politico reported on May 2 that the Supreme Court of the United States has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, citing a draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated inside the court. The court confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion the following day. 

The NewsGuild-CWA unequivocally supports access to abortion as a health care right and as a matter of personal choice.

Continue reading “NewsGuild: Abortion access is a health care right”