FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Moira Bulloch (mbulloch@cwa-union.org), CWA Communications, 202-434-1168
The PG’s announced closure does not allow it to evade the ruling.
PITTSBURGH — On Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s request to have every judge on the circuit reconsider a November 2025 ruling from a panel of the same court that enforced a National Labor Relations Board order directing the PG to restore the entire collective bargaining agreement that it illegally tore up in July 2020. That includes restoration of paid time off, banked sick days, some workers’ wages, health care and the right to arbitrate discipline, among other issues.
The ruling also means the PG has to pay back every bargaining unit member — strikers and non-strikers alike — for the costs it has illegally passed onto them for the last five-and-a-half years. That liability continues to accrue until the Post-Gazette restores the previous, contractually bargained terms.
Block Communications Inc., which is the PG’s parent company, announced plans to shutter the publication hours after the U.S. Supreme Court last week denied the company’s request for a stay on an injunction also issued by the 3rd Circuit. The move to shutter the Post-Gazette on May 3 coincides with World Press Freedom Day. Because the company’s decision to close the newspaper is in retaliation after losing legal battles in its yearslong union-busting campaign, the company will continue to face liabilities for its violation of federal law.
“The millionaire owners of the Post-Gazette have burned countless dollars trying to destroy our union and destroy a 240-year-old institution in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania,” said NewsGuild-CWA president Jon Schleuss. “The company could have settled for far less than they spent on fighting journalists and breaking federal law. We’ll continue to fight for journalists in Pittsburgh and look to the future while at the same time considering all legal options to hold the company to account and compel them to follow the law.”
Editorial workers at the Post-Gazette — members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061) — went out on strike on Oct. 18, 2022, demanding the company restore the terms of the entire collective bargaining agreement (CBA) it illegally discarded, including dignified health care. On Nov. 10, 2025, in addition to updating its March injunction regarding health care, the 3rd Circuit Court ordered the company to restore all the requested terms of the previous CBA.
“The Block family’s decision to close the PG is an extremely damaging blow to the region. So we and our community supporters and stakeholders have already begun the important work of building an alternative to the Block-owned PG that can better serve Pittsburgh and beyond,” said Andrew Goldstein, Post-Gazette education reporter and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “We’ll have more to share soon, and I invite anyone who would seriously like to be part of that future to join us.”
Having lost previous decisions in a January 2023 administrative law judge ruling, in front of the National Labor Relations Board in September 2024, a 3rd Circuit Court panel in March 2025, as well as a second 3rd Circuit panel on Nov. 10, 2025, the Post-Gazette appealed back to the 3rd Circuit Court twice more, was denied both times, and was already facing the prospect of contempt of court proceedings in December of 2025.
“We had to sacrifice a lot to get this amount of justice. This country and its ruling class have always relentlessly attacked workers. They only ever back off when we fight back,” said Erin Hebert, Post-Gazette copy editor and first vice president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “Everyone who has to struggle and work to survive, whether they’re a union member yet or not, should strongly consider if we want to keep having that fight in the courts, or in an arena where their lawyers can’t buy them time.”