The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday filed civil contempt of court charges against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for what it said is the newspaper’s refusal to comply with a federal court order to restore health insurance the company illegally took away from its workers in 2020.
The charges could result in daily compounding fines if the Post-Gazette continues to ignore the decision from the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
On March 24, the court granted what is known as 10(e) injunctive relief — a rare measure only sought in the most extreme violations of federal labor law — that ordered the Post-Gazette to restore the health insurance plan and bargain a new contract in good faith with its workers. The newspaper has not acted on the order for nearly three months aside from two separate attempts to appeal the order, which the court denied.
“While NewsGuild workers pile up win after win, the Post-Gazette is continuing to defy federal law and play games with the court rather than give us what they owe us,” Zack Tanner, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, said in a news release. “Our demands to the company have been the same for years: Restore our contract, including our health care, and stop breaking the law.”
Post-Gazette newsroom workers, who are represented by the guild, have been on an unfair labor practice strike against the newspaper since October 2022 in part because of the company’s unilateral change in health insurance. It is the longest ongoing strike in the country.
Before the case reached the appeals court, an administrative law judge and the full NLRB in Washington ruled that the Post-Gazette broke the law by changing the health insurance as well as unilaterally declaring an impasse to contract negotiations and imposing working conditions on its newsroom workers that drastically slash their rights.
The Post-Gazette eschewed previous rulings because they came with no real enforcement mechanism. The appeals court, however, can levy fines and freeze the newspaper’s assets in cases of civil contempt.
“The Blocks and their company could have avoided this mess entirely,” Tanner said, “and now they’re going to be forced to pay the price of their wrongdoing.”
In September, the NLRB ordered the PG to restore the 2014-17 contract, bargain in good faith, pay workers back for the illegal changes to their health care and wages, and not illegally surveil employees.
While the injunction approved by the court largely focused on health insurance, a panel of judges from the appeals court is set to hear oral arguments for the full case on July 7 in Philadelphia.
Neither PG Publisher John Robinson Block nor Executive Editor Stan Wischnowski returned calls seeking comment.
Andrew writes about education and more for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at agoldstein@unionprogress.com.