In what they hope will be their biggest showing of community support yet, striking newspaper and production workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will rally outside the newsroom’s North Shore office on Friday to mark one year on strike, a somber anniversary that union leaders say is a testament to the courage of their members.
The workers will host their rally on the 300 block of North Shore Drive at 1 p.m., in the shadow of the Post-Gazette’s office that continues to produce a newspaper with journalists and others who are crossing the unions’ picket line.
Union leaders and rally planners are expecting a big showing on Friday in an effort to remind Pittsburgh that the strike continues and that workers still need donations and support to keep the effort going.
But beyond the solidarity of a large showing is a gloomy undertone, as the one-year mark means journalists and production workers have gone 12 months without the stability of their day jobs. Meanwhile, leaders of the journalists’ Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh note that the Post-Gazette continues to refuse to bargain in good faith, leaving it to the courts to decide some of the key details of the strike that has upended the lives of dozens of workers.
“The millionaire Block family wants to crush the workers, and we aren’t about to let that happen,” said Zack Tanner, guild president. “The PG will be a great community asset for years to come, and it will be only because of the fight of the workers over the last 12 months.”
Tanner, an interactive designer who has worked at the Post-Gazette for more than five years, said the one-year anniversary is a “testament to the power of the workers who have seen it through,” which reinforces why the strike is so important.
Oct. 6, 2022, is the date that pressmen, mailers, drivers and advertising workers went out on strike, precipitated by the loss of health care coverage. Journalists went out on their own unfair labor practice strike on Oct. 18, noting that the company had imposed conditions in 2020 that forced them onto a health insurance plan offering less coverage at a higher price, according to the guild.
Striking workers and the company have continued to bargain over the past year in occasional instances, but little progress has been made, and talks have mostly stalled. That included the most recent bargaining meeting in September, the first since mid-June.
At the rally, members say they will tell the community why the strike is important for the greater Pittsburgh community and for the labor movement as a whole. Numerous state representatives are expected to attend, including Democrats Emily Kinkead, Jessica Benham, Dan Miller and Dan Frankel. Others expected to be there are U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
Leaders say they’ve received confirmation, too, that Claude Cummings Jr., the new president of the Communications Workers of America, will attend the rally and speak to workers, some of whom are organized under the umbrella union. Also joining will be CWA Secretary-Treasurer Ameenah Salaam.
The CAPA Jazz Band from Pittsburgh’s performing arts school in Downtown will provide entertainment.
The union framed the rally as the ultimate way to support the strike at the one-year mark, also noting that community support has sustained the strike with hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations.
In an effort to bring newsroom leaders into the fold, union organizers sent a letter to Stan Wischnowski, executive editor and vice president of the Post-Gazette, inviting him to attend the rally. Wischnowski has not engaged with the union to this point, the union says.
In the letter, guild members say it’s more than just an invitation to Wischnowski; it’s “an appeal to your sense of duty and humanity, urging you to engage with us, the devoted workers who have contributed to the rich tapestry of the newspaper’s legacy.”
Andrew Goldstein, a striking journalist who leads the strike’s committee on community actions, said he takes no joy in reaching the one-year mark on strike but is “buoyed every day” by the courage and dedication of his colleagues.
“We have all suffered unnecessarily because of a few jagoffs born into massive wealth who don’t give a damn about Pittsburgh or local news and spit on the legacy of both the Post-Gazette and generations of working people who have made tremendous sacrifices to make this city the place that we all know and love,” Goldstein said.
He added, “Pittsburgh needs quality local news, and we will never stop fighting to make the Post-Gazette what it should be.”
Julian is the Western Pennsylvania politics and government bureau chief at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike.