{"id":15161,"date":"2025-10-26T01:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T01:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/15161\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T01:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T01:33:11","slug":"three-years-in-voices-from-the-nations-longest-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/15161\/","title":{"rendered":"Three years in: Voices from the nation’s longest strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

At noon on Oct. 18, 2022, journalists of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh went on an unfair labor practice strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. PUP, which has been documenting the strike from the start<\/a>, is marking the third year anniversary of the nation\u2019s longest ongoing strike by asking some of our colleagues to share their thoughts about their fight for a fair contract. We\u2019ll update with more over the coming days as the strikers await rulings on their case from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n

A wedding, a death and a strike<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s happened in my life the past three years? Let\u2019s see\u2026<\/p>\n

There were highs. Our only daughter got married. The celebration took place in an apple orchard outside of Boston. A father-bride dance at a wedding is always special, but dancing to the Temptations\u2019 \u201cMy Girl\u201d and remembering the toddler who couldn\u2019t say S yet call the song \u201cI got hun hine\u201d instead of \u201cI got sunshine\u201d melted me.<\/p>\n

There were lows: My only brother got sick and died. Illness killed him in 10 days. He was a complex man trying to live a simple life, working two jobs, eating breakfast at Pamela\u2019s in Oakland before church every Sunday and dinner Friday night at Emil\u2019s in Rankin.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, and I\u2019ve been on strike.<\/p>\n

My remarkably strong colleagues and I are fighting an employer hell-bent on breaking as many labor laws as necessary. The Post-Gazette wants to bust a union that had worked together with the company for more than 90 years. The PG hasn\u2019t been successful yet and it won\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

What sticks out about the strike? Again, the highs and lows:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The unbelievable energy one month into the strike when strikers and community supporters showed up outside the editor\u2019s wedding reception at the Duquesne Club. We brought with us a blow-up Scabby the Rat wearing a veil. It was quite a spectacle. Any normal employer would have folded then and there.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Hooting and hollering till my ears hurt on a car ride back from Toledo on a cold afternoon in January 2024. We\u2019d just received word that the National Labor Relations Board\u2019s administrative law judge ruled overwhelmingly in the union\u2019s favor. He confirmed what we already knew: The company had been violating labor law for years in contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Facing the indignity of a criminal charge filed against me by the executive editor of the Post-Gazette for criminal trespass. My horrific crime? Holding a strike sign while a 4-year-old pushed it into the ground on his lawn. It took three months to get to a hearing, then less than an hour for the district judge to throw it out.<\/p>\n

What have I learned through these three years of madness? Old dogs can learn new tricks. Through lots of practice, this normally shy guy can do a fair job speaking in public. (It helps when you\u2019re living what you\u2019re talking about.)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m more patient and almost never just hang up when I get a phone call from a solicitor or pollster. I\u2019ve done that job trying to raise money for the strike. I now realize they are just someone trying to make a living the best way they can.<\/p>\n

I have more empathy for others. It\u2019s a highlight to join colleagues about once a month delivering food for distribution to victims of the East Palestine train derailment. These folks are still struggling to piece their lives back together.<\/p>\n

At 69, I\u2019m more than old enough to retire. But I refuse to go out on these terms and let someone else determine when I\u2019ve outlived my usefulness.<\/p>\n

How have we gotten through three years on strike? Everyone is different, but in my case, I must point to my wife Janet. You\u2019ll find her in as many strike rallies as anyone. She\u2019s been unbelievably supportive and tolerant. We should be heading off into our golden years, but that\u2019s on hold. I tell her we\u2019ll replace that old bathtub with a walk-in shower and take a real vacation some time soon, but I can\u2019t promise exactly when.<\/p>\n

First, we\u2019ve got a strike to win.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ed Blazina, transportation reporter on strike<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\"\"Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette worker Rick Davis at his home office, where he coordinates sports coverage of the Pittsburgh Union Progress, the newspaper published by the striking journalists. (Steve Mellon\/Pittsburgh Union Progress)<\/p>\n

He said \u2018no more\u2019<\/p>\n

After three years on strike, it\u2019s natural to wonder if you made the right decision. Sacrificing so much time affects many aspects of your life \u2014 I\u2019ve even taken a big hit on my Social Security that I just won\u2019t be able to recoup. Every day, I weigh whether my choice was best for me and my wife, and question whether it\u2019s time to give up and go back to work. But like running 25 miles of a marathon, you don\u2019t stop just short of the goal. Whatever challenges come up, you push through to reach the finish line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I look at it as a big picture thing. Why did I do this? How did I get here? I keep going back to that one day, three decades ago. I was at a Saturday afternoon house party. I got a plate of food and sat down on an empty couch and an elderly man sat down next to me. Everything about him was unassuming \u2014 imagine the grandfather from \u201cThe Waltons.\u201d I was almost expecting him to reach into his pocket and pull out a Werther\u2019s Original candy for me. I got that kind of vibe from him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the conversations about current events and the fate of the Pirates, he asked about my career and why I chose journalism \u2014 questions you wouldn\u2019t expect from a stranger at a party. But he seemed genuine. Partway through, he introduced himself as Bill Block, and I realized I was sitting next to the owner and publisher of the Post-Gazette.<\/p>\n

People often mention life\u2019s crossroads \u2014 the small moments that change everything, like catching a green light instead of a red light at that intersection. For me, meeting this person entirely shifted my career perspective. It was never my dream or goal to work at the PG. I was content as sports editor at the Butler Eagle. But after that party, I realized I wanted to work for Mr. Block at the PG.<\/p>\n

A few years later, I had the opportunity to join the PG, and I jumped at it. It turned out to be everything I thought it would be. People took pride in producing one of the best newspapers in the country. We all felt like we were working for a company that cared about its employees. It was all a reflection of Bill Block.<\/p>\n

That changed when he died in 2005. The company began to show that it only cared about its bottom line. Morale took a dive. Year after year we went without a pay raise, not even a cost-of-living raise. Then we took a pay cut. We lost vacation days, sick days. Increased costs in our health care came out of our pockets. The last several months leading up to the strike in October of 2022 were the worst I\u2019ve experienced, and I\u2019ve been at the newspaper for 28 years. The newsroom became poisonous.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been three years since I walked out of the PG newsroom. Quite often I think about my chance meeting with Mr. Block back in the 1990s. That summer day defined my career. What if I didn\u2019t go to that party and never met him? It also remains a source of sadness. I watched the dismantling of the once-proud newsroom he built. By striking, I said \u201cno more.\u201d I think Mr. Block would be proud.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rick Davis, sports editor on strike <\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\"\"Alexandra Wimley attends a union meeting at the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh strike headquarters the United Steelworkers Building in Pittsburgh. (Steve Mellon\/Pittsburgh Union Progress)<\/p>\n

She\u2019s no longer a \u2018yes man\u2019<\/p>\n

Three years ago, I would have dropped anything and everything in my life for work. I was very much a \u201cyes man.\u201d Cancel plans to pick up a Saturday morning shift? Yes. Run out to cover breaking news at 11 p.m. on my night off? Yes. And, honestly, I was happy to do it because I love the work.<\/p>\n

That hasn\u2019t changed. But the day we went on strike was the first time I ever really said no to my boss, my company, my job, my career.<\/p>\n

For many months after the strike began, I felt like I had suffered a loss. My main source of meaning and validation was stripped from me in a way over which I had little control. Ultimately, my life had revolved around work. So I had to rebuild a more balanced system.<\/p>\n

I went through all of the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression. And now, I\u2019ve come to a place of acceptance. I accept my life being a bit slower. I accept a new version of fulfillment that doesn\u2019t often look like the standard societal definition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And at the end of the day, what the strike is all about for me is, I don\u2019t want the next generation of journalists to think they have to accept scraps and just scrape by in life to succeed in their career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014 Alexandra Wimley, photojournalist on strike <\/p>\n

This story will be updated. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The PUP is the publication of the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At noon on Oct. 18, 2022, journalists of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh went on an unfair labor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11357,2394,59,11358,73,75,74,11359,11360,11361,2957],"class_list":["post-15161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-alexandra-wimley","tag-anniversary","tag-labor","tag-newspaper-guild-of-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-union-progress","tag-post-gazette","tag-rick-davis","tag-strike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}