The strike daily Nov. 8: Election Day traditions continue, even on the picket line

Going on strike and joining a picket line is a big shift from the norm.

But eating pizza on Election Day? That comes more naturally than almost anything for journalists.

And that’s exactly what the striking workers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did Tuesday.

Thanks to the Indianapolis News Guild, six pizzas arrived on the North Shore for lunch outside the PG newsroom.

The striking workers also got a visit from two of their colleagues who are based outside Pittsburgh: Harrisburg bureau chief Gillian McGoldrick and Washington bureau chief Ashley Murray.

Striking Post-Gazette politics reporters, from left, Gillian McGoldrick, Julian Routh, Ashley Murray and Hallie Lauer on the picket line on the North Shore on Tuesday, Nov 8. (Pittsburgh Union Progress)

McGoldrick and Murray both previously led one-woman picket lines outside the Pennsylvania Capitol building and the U.S. Capitol, respectively — but Tuesday, they were able to join their Pittsburgh-based co-workers on the line.

And as Election Day turned to night, striking PG journalists turned away from pizza to another familiar habit: covering the political races important to Western Pennsylvania readers. But this election, they’re writing for the Pittsburgh Union Progress instead of the PG.

Also on Tuesday, Take Your Child to Work Day became “Take Your Child to Strike Day.”

Striking PG page designer and copy editor John Santa brought along his 4-year-old son, Jack, who enthusiastically joined his dad in waving at passing drivers and getting honks of support from them.

(Melissa Tkach/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Jack also made some sidewalk drawings in chalk and got to meet some of his father’s co-workers.

Jack (and everyone else on the picket line) also got to enjoy sweet treats from Voodoo Doughnuts.

Striking PG page designer and copy editor Erin Hebert flew home from a West Coast trip with three boxes of the doughnuts — and she brought them to the picket line to feed her colleagues.

Striking PG page designer and copy editor Erin Hebert brought boxes of Voodoo Doughnuts to the picket line on Tuesday, Nov. 8, outside the PG newsroom. (Melissa Tkach/Pittsburgh Union Progress)

Striking PG workers represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh also continued preparations Tuesday for their first contract bargaining session with PG management in more than two years. That session is scheduled for the morning of Nov. 14, as the PUP previously reported.

A return to good-faith bargaining is one of the guild’s demands to end its strike against the PG, which began on Oct. 18.