The parent union of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents newsroom workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on Monday urged C-SPAN to remove one of the PG’s owners from its board.
The Communications Workers of America’s letter to C-SPAN was signed by 20 CWA leaders and notes that Allan Block co-owns a newspaper that has refused to bargain in good faith with its workers.
CWA’s letter also points out that Block was filmed hitting a NewsGuild-CWA staffer with a bag of fast food and swearing at him, and that he tried to twist coverage of the Capitol insurrection.
“C-SPAN has earned that reputation through decades of dedication to high standards by remaining neutral,” the letter reads in part. “You and the board uphold those standards and have acted swiftly before to remove anything that could damage C-SPAN’s brand.”
The CWA’s letter was first reported Monday afternoon by Axios.
Meanwhile, workers at the PG have been on strike for more than two months, and Block’s representatives at the bargaining table have continued to negotiate in bad faith and failed to move to end the strike, according to the guild.
Three negotiation sessions between workers and the PG failed to end the strike, as the company’s representatives have rejected all proposals brought by the guild.
A fourth session is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
The National Labor Relations Board is prosecuting unfair labor practice charges against the PG, including bad-faith bargaining, illegal declaration of impasse and illegal unilaterally implemented changes to working conditions. An administrative law judge heard testimony regarding those charges this fall, and the guild says it anticipates a ruling early in 2023.
The guild’s most recent contract with the company expired in early 2017. The company declared an impasse in negotiations in 2020, despite the guild disagreeing that the sides were at a true impasse.
Alex is a digital news editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike.
