Striking journalists return to picket outside North Shore newsroom

Strike pizza returned to Pittsburgh’s North Shore Drive Tuesday afternoon as lunch for about 15 members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh who are on strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

While workers from some of the other four unions who have been on strike for nine months have continued to picket in front of the PG’s North Shore newsroom and advertising office, the journalists have been focusing their strike efforts on other areas, including fundraising and outreach to supporters.

But they decided to assemble with picket signs from about noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday for a couple of reasons, according to Post-Gazette unit chair of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh Andrew Goldstein: “To let folks know we’re still out here fighting — and that’s going to continue — and to see each other.”

They chatted about arcane labor issues such as romance novels, cute dogs and rye whiskey, devoured the Papa Allen’s pizza, and handed out some brochures about the strikes that started in October when the company did not pay an increase in some of the unions’ health care coverage. Workers in the unions representing the pressmen, mailers, typos (advertising workers) and drivers also are on strike.

But enough workers are crossing the picket lines that the PG still is publishing seven days a week online and on Thursdays and Sundays in print.

The guild’s unfair labor practice strike efforts were buoyed in January when a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled strongly in the union’s favor, but the company has appealed that ruling. There’s been almost no progress in bargaining, and no sessions are scheduled. But the guild will continue to work with the other unions on multiple fronts for legal treatment and a fair contract and health care coverage for all the workers.

Tuesday’s picket is a to-be-repeated reminder, Goldstein said: “We’re here. We’re not going to let the PG forget it.”