The judges affirmed that the PG must restore the previous 2014-17 contract, including the journalists\u2019 health care coverage, and bargain with the union for a new contract, at the union\u2019s request, before making changes to employees\u2019 terms and conditions of employment. That will restore bargained-for provisions the company had eliminated or reduced, such as a guaranteed 40-hour workweek, short-term disability time, paid time off and the right to fight discipline from managers and more.<\/p>\n
Later on Nov. 10, the PG announced its intention to appeal the ruling by seeking a rehearing by the full Third Circuit Court and, if necessary, appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
But the strikers and parent union, the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America, already were declaring the court ruling a victory, in that it grants everything they\u2019ve been striking for.<\/p>\n
So Newspaper Guild called this momentous meeting for Thursday, Nov. 13, at Downtown\u2019s United Steelworkers Building, which has served as strike headquarters, and ordered Papa Allen\u2019s, the strike\u2019s official pizza. It was the strike\u2019s Day 1,122.<\/p>\n
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Striking Post-Gazette photographer Matt Freed casts a ballot on whether to end his union\u2019s strike during a meeting on the second floor of the United Steelworkers Building in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Steve Mellon\/Pittsburgh Union Progress)<\/p>\n
The meeting opened with discussions led by newly elected guild President Andrew Goldstein with the local\u2019s attorney Joe Pass, who talked about the PG\u2019s published threat to close the newspaper if the court ruling stands. The newspaper has stated it cannot afford the costs of abiding by the ruling. Pass reminded the strikers that the PG\u2019s attorneys don\u2019t make the claim in bargaining sessions that the company has an inability to pay increases, and they won\u2019t let the union look at the company\u2019s financial books.<\/p>\n
One of the 22 strikers in the room, plus three attending via Zoom, made a motion that they vote to end the strike and unconditionally return to work.<\/p>\n
And after more discussion, they took a secret ballot, with each of the present strikers writing on a slip of paper either \u201cYes\u201d or \u201cNo\u201d to ending the strike, then dropping their votes into a cardboard box at the front of the room with the others sending theirs in via texts.<\/p>\n
The motion passed by an 84% margin.<\/p>\n
Most of the strikers applauded and some removed to The Yard in Market Square for a drink. <\/p>\n
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A committee of three strikers \u2014 Rob Joesbury, Steve Karlinchak and Helen Fallon \u2014 huddled in a conference room on the second floor of the United Steelworkers Building in Pittsburgh to count votes after fellow strikers cast ballots on whether to end their labor action on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Pam Panchak\/Pittsburgh Union Progress)<\/p>\n
This Monday afternoon, the 1,126th day since the strike started, Pass sent the PG a letter notifying the company that the guild members intend to unconditionally return to work at the North Shore newsroom at 10 a.m. on next Monday, Nov. 24. Per federal labor law, the journalists are entitled to their jobs back, but as the Guild\u2019s news release notes<\/a>, the company has some say about timing, so it \u201casked the company to inform strikers if they are being asked to report at a different time or place.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the release, \u201cWhen workers vote to end an unfair labor practice strike and make the kind of return to work offer given to the Post-Gazette on Monday, the struck employer has five days to make arrangements to bring the strikers back.\u201d If on the sixth day the company has not returned strikers to work, it begins to owe them, as well as those currently working, pay and benefits per the contract terms the strikers won.<\/p>\n The PG has continued to publish digitally daily and also in print on Thursdays and Sundays with workers who did not go on strike or who were hired after the strike started.<\/p>\n The returning journalists could be working with them while the company seeks an \u201cen banc\u201d rehearing of the case before the full Third Circuit Court, something that union leaders believe is unlikely to be granted. But they believe the company has as many as a total of 45 days to file that petition, and the court then has time to consider it, and an appeal to the Supreme Court could take years.<\/p>\n Additional legal maneuvering seems guaranteed.<\/p>\n Four production unions that went on strike 10 days before the journalists did in 2022 already have settled with the company and have dissolved their locals or unit<\/a>. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh remains the bargaining agent for all the journalists working at the PG and intends to bargain a new contract for them.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single step of the way, we have told the company and decision makers within it that this is what would happen,\u201d Goldstein said in Monday\u2019s news release. \u201cThey could\u2019ve saved so much money and trouble by listening to us then. It\u2019s certainly time for them to listen to us now, comply with the order, and get down to bargaining a new contract with the old contract in place.\u201d<\/p>\n The Guild release reiterated how throughout the three-year-plus strike, community members have consistently supported the strikers, including by donating more than $1 million for their daily needs, boycotting the PG and instead reading and advertising in this strike paper, the Pittsburgh Union Progress. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Post-Gazette has spent the last several years tarnishing the paper\u2019s reputation with the community it claims to serve, we have been able to restore and foster connections with Pittsburghers whose stories are often overlooked,\u201d striking copy editor and Guild first vice president Erin Hebert said in the release. \u201cWe look forward to returning to our jobs, uniting around a common goal of serving our community with strong union journalism, and working through whatever challenges we will face when we are back inside.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldstein emphasized in a post-strike-vote letter to Guild members last week, \u201cWe should relish in our victory,\u201d including with long-thought-about victory parties. In fact, the Newspaper Guild public \u201cVictory Party\u201d is now scheduled for Dec. 1 at Bottlerocket Social Hall <\/a>in the city\u2019s Allentown neighborhood.<\/p>\n Read the full news release here: https:\/\/pghguild.com\/2025\/11\/17\/post-gazette-strikers-send-company-return-to-work-offer\/<\/a><\/p>\n This story will be updated as it develops. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763416688_145_GoalieFightAd2.jpeg\")
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