In the run-up to a third bargaining session between the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the unions that represent some 120 striking workers, those workers are attempting to ensure that the Dec. 6 session is more productive than the first two.
Their efforts have included picketing at the PG’s North Shore newsroom, at its Clinton press facility and outside the publisher’s wedding reception, all while trying to drum up more community support by leafleting and talking to Pittsburgh-area groups and companies.
Another way workers are building pressure on PG to come to the table in good faith and end the strikes? Phone calls to Allan Block, CEO and chairman of the PG’s parent company, Block Communications Inc.
Several striking workers called Block throughout Monday and Tuesday to politely ask him to resolve the strikes. A few workers whose calls Block answered said that when they identified themselves as striking PG workers, Block hung up on them. Most others said they were sent to voicemail.
Last week, a video spread online of Block hitting a union representative with a bag of fast food when the two had a chance encounter at an Ohio rest stop. When asked by organizer Nolan Rosenkrans why the PG won’t reach an agreement to end the strike, Block responds by yelling, “Fuck you!”
The first two bargaining sessions since the strikes began in October yielded no progress, as PG representatives rebuffed attempts to bargain in good faith and continued to offer the same contract that the unions declined in 2020.
The workers of the striking unions remain hopeful that the company will come to the table in good faith on Dec. 6.
Alex is a digital news editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike.
