Publications assess themselves by all kinds of metrics — number of page views, time readers spent on pages, advertising revenue, social media followers.
Here at the Pittsburgh Union Progress, we’ve counted, and counted on, heart beats.
Launched as the first strike “newspaper” of the digital age by publishing its first stories two days after the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh went on strike on Oct. 18, 2022, our publication was powered by the hearts of journalists who cared so much about their calling and their communities that they continued to do this important work without getting a paycheck.
It’s astounding that so many of them kept doing that, day in and day out, for more than three years.
The PUP, as we affectionately call it, published 4,017 stories — on community news, sports and on the strike itself, because who else was going to do so? Our archives are stuffed with more than 17,780 photographs, graphics and illustrations, most of them — like the one above of our mascot — handmade by union workers, and many of them generously shared by friends and supporters.
As we wrote for our “About” page, the free publication served “as a voice for the people of Pittsburgh.” Those included members of four production unions who went on strike 12 days before we did, all of which eventually settled and dissolved, but not before workers in the advertising union — our siblings, the typos — designed and received donations for dozens of ads from supporters.
Man, do we have supporters. “Please donate or subscribe to support the striking workers,” we asked, and our readers were among people across the country and beyond who donated more than $1 million that directly helped strikers with their living expenses. They wholeheartedly stuck with us over the long haul.
The journalists were as sustained by all the people, including our 4,472 newsletter subscribers, who read and looked at and shared our journalism, who sent story tips and pitches, who talked to us and commented on them. Our 100 bylines include those of some of the best journalists anywhere, some of whom, as the legal process bogged down, chose to move on to other jobs and cities. We really miss them.
We kept working every single day for 1,132 days, and that included a lot of nights and the wee hours of mornings, as our small but super sports staff fanned out to join other Western Pennsylvania sports lovers at the region’s basketball courts, baseball diamonds and football fields. We remain all in with this community, whether people are winning a state championship or not winning one, suffering from the effects of the East Palestine derailment or the synagogue shooting trial, or fighting for their own rights and dignity.
We did a lot of very good work and loved doing it.
As we wrote in our “About” section, “This publication will be shut down at the resolution of the labor disputes.”
That time has come as we union journalists, having won in a court ruling what we sought to win, have voted to end the strike and return to work at the PG.
We just want to say from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
**Wags tail**
The PUP is the publication of the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
