The new owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plan to recognize the paper’s labor union, officials from the Maryland-based nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism confirmed Thursday.

According to a statement from Andre Jones, Chief People Officer at the Baltimore Banner, the Venetoulis Institute’s other newspaper, the nonprofit “decided to recognize the union in accordance with labor law.”

The move represents the start of a new chapter in the ongoing, tangled labor history of the Post-Gazette. Andrew Goldstein, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, found the message encouraging.

“This is a really good first step, and it’s the kind of, I think, good-faith showing that we have not seen from Post-Gazette ownership and management for really more than a decade now,” he said.

Members of the Guild had been on strike for three years over an unfair labor practices dispute against the Block family, who previously owned the paper. The union returned to work at the end of last year, after a court decision ordered the owners to return to bargaining. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal brought by the Blocks of a lower court order to reinstate the workers’ healthcare. The Blocks decided shortly after that they would close the paper altogether. Their last publication day was set for the beginning of May, before the Venetoulis Institute announced this month that they would buy the paper from the Blocks.

An article in the Banner maintained that under an asset sale like this one, the Venetoulis Institute wouldn’t be required to recognize the union’s existing contract. Questions also still remain about how many members of the Post-Gazette’s staff will be kept on, as the new owners have indicated cuts are forthcoming. But so long as the majority of staff retained are members of the bargaining unit, as opposed to management or non-covered employees, the Guild will remain the official bargaining representative of the new workforce, Guild lawyer Joe Pass clarified to WESA last week.

Goldstein says the process of re-interviewing staff is ongoing. He noted that staff haven’t heard a lot about how the transition process between the Blocks and Venetoulis will take place.

“ It’s still very much an anxious time,” he said. “I know that Venetoulis on their side are working very hard to figure this out in a very brief amount of time that they’ve had to go public with this, and then figure out how they’re going to take over here.  Really, it’s all happening in less than a month’s time.”

He said he looks forward to the union’s upcoming conversations with Venetoulis. Attorneys with the nonprofit have reached out to the union to schedule a meeting. Venetoulis officials have also acknowledged Pittsburgh’s labor history, Goldstein said.

“As Institute representatives told me they were going to recognize the union, they also noted that Pittsburgh is a union town, and I think a lot of credit for that has to be given to not only the support that we received during the strike, but also the support we’ve received since then, since the Blocks said that they were going to close the Post-Gazette,” he said.

Last week, the union encouraged supporters in an email to sign onto a petition advocating for “a robust staff[,] local coverage at the PG and good-faith bargaining with us.” They said they planned to share the results of the petition at their first meeting with management. That petition has received over 1,100 signatures, Goldstein said.

“ I think we can all agree that we just want the best for the Post-Gazette moving forward,” he said. “ I look forward to meeting with them and starting to build a strong relationship. Hopefully we’ll have more news in the near future.”