![\"Big](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Post-Gazette-Strike.jpg\")
\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Photo via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA\u2014After more than three years on strike against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and five years of overall corporate violation of labor law, The News Guild of Pittsburgh, TNG-CWA Local 38061, completely won its case against the Block brothers, the paper\u2019s owners.<\/p>\n
Writing on Nov. 10 for a unanimous panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, Judge Cindy Chung\u2014the former U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania, headquartered in Pittsburgh\u2014ordered the Blocks to bargain and reach a contract with the Guild, just as the National Labor Relations Board demanded in seeking an injunction, a mandatory court order, against the duo.<\/p>\n
Judge Chung also ordered the Blocks to restore the better health care plan for the workers which they unilaterally abolished in July 2020, end the illegal impasse they declared in negotiations, restore the 40-hour workweek and paid time off, and take back all the strikers and make them whole\u2014by repaying them for all out-of-pocket costs they shouldered to keep themselves and their families alive.<\/p>\n
The judge also ordered the Blocks to pay attorneys\u2019 fees and court costs which the News Guild racked up during what became the longest current strike in the U.S., and the longest strike in the Guild\u2019s 91-year history. \u201cThe Circuit Court ruling completely corners the Blocks\u2019 union-busting operation,\u201d the Guild statement said.<\/p>\n
About the only penalty the Blocks escaped was what they would suffer if they defied this court order, too, just as they had defied the National Labor Relations Board\u2019s administrative law judge, the full board, and the federal district judge who tried the case.<\/p>\n
About a year ago, at the National Press Club, with then-NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo listening during a panel discussion about labor law, News Guild President Jon Schleuss suggested that if the Blocks defied this court, too, they should be marched off to jail for contempt of court.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s little chance of the Blocks successfully appealing Judge Chung\u2019s order, said Moira Bulloch of CWA communications. Because the three-judge ruling was unanimous, that avenue is closed.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Block-house-260x346.jpg\")
Post-Gazette strikers outside the Block mansion. | Mark Gruenberg \/ People\u2019s World<\/p>\n
Schleuss didn\u2019t go quite as far this time in praising Chung\u2019s decision, but he said it should send a tough message to other corporate chieftains who defy and break labor law against their workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Blocks\u2019 shameless attempts at union busting failed again,\u201d said\u00a0Schleuss. \u201cWhat the Blocks\u2014and all owners like them\u2014need to understand is they cannot break the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are stronger, braver, and more principled than any boss can possibly imagine. The News Guild stands ready to support every journalist and all members in whatever it takes, however long it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since Post-Gazette management ripped apart our contract in 2020, our union of journalists has been standing and fighting the lawless union-busting that we\u2019ve been subjected to every step of the way,\u201d said Pittsburgh News Guild President Andrew Goldstein, an education reporter on strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we walked out on strike in October 2022, it wasn\u2019t just for us and our rights as workers, we were fighting for fair treatment for the future journalists in Pittsburgh and beyond. Today\u2019s victory vindicates our fight and shows News Guild workers will never back down no matter how long it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet this be a lesson to the bosses and the bullies who think they can starve working people into submission: When we stand together, we have the power, the tenacity, and the will to win,\u201d added\u00a0CWA President Claude Cummings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am immensely proud of our strikers for their righteous victory today, and also of members and retirees from across our union and the labor movement who stood in solidarity, donated, and sustained our strikers for three long years. When we fight together, we win together.\u201d<\/p>\n
That included a demonstration in front of the Blocks\u2019 mansion during the CWA convention in Pittsburgh earlier this year. Chung pulled no punches against the Blocks. Excerpts included:<\/p>\n
The National Labor Relations Act \u201cprovides it is an unfair labor practice for an employer \u2018to refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of [its] employees.\u2019\u201d To determine if the employer violated that mandate, \u201cthe totality of a party\u2019s conduct is relevant.\u201d While the law does not mandate the boss must \u201cmake concessions or yield on a genuinely held position, \u2018rigid adherence to disadvantageous proposals may provide a basis for inferring bad faith.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere the employer\u2019s proposals leave the union members with substantially fewer rights than the law would provide them without a contract, an inference of bad faith may be appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSubstantial evidence supports the finding PG Publishing bargained in bad faith.\u201d Its \u201cproposals as a whole would have required the Guild to cede\u2026the most fundamental of employment terms. For instance, PG Publishing could encroach on the Guild\u2019s jurisdiction by subcontracting work and PG Publishing would have unilateral control over work hours.\u201d
\nThe Blocks\u2019 own last offer \u201cvastly expanded the expired agreement\u2019s no-strike clause and scaled back employees\u2019 healthcare. Guild members would have been afforded more rights working without a contract than by accepting all of PG Publishing\u2019s proposals.\u201d
\n\u201cPG Publishing\u2019s bad faith in finding impasse was prematurely declared.\u201d It hadn\u2019t even acknowledged, much less responded to, the Guild\u2019s counterproposals on wages and benefits, among other issues.
\nThe Blocks legally couldn\u2019t contest the make-whole remedy for the workers\u2014which included reimbursing them for health insurance costs, credit card bills and rent they paid or loans they took out to keep themselves and their families alive during the fight and the strike. The Blocks had to contest that remedy in U.S. District Court\u2014the trial court\u2014Chung said, and didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
We hope you appreciated this article. At\u00a0People\u2019s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading\u00a0People\u2019s World\u00a0and the stories we bring you, please\u00a0support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCONTRIBUTOR<\/p>\n
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/200x262shearon.jul10-200x200.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette PHILADELPHIA\u2014After more than three years on strike against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and five years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21575,59,21576,19614,28,73,75,74,2957],"class_list":{"0":"post-34571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-journalism","9":"tag-labor","10":"tag-newsguild","11":"tag-newspaper","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news","16":"tag-strike"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34571","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=34571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}