The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u2019s publisher failed to convince the US Supreme Court to halt a lower court order requiring the company to make changes to its health insurance coverage for union workers, apparently triggering the newspaper\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n
The justices rejected<\/a> on Wednesday PG Publishing Co.\u2019s request to freeze a temporary injunction<\/a> issued by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit more than nine months ago. Their order, which vacated Justice Samuel Alito\u2019s Dec. 22 stay that had paused<\/a> the appeals court\u2019s injunction, didn\u2019t explain their reasoning for ruling against the company.<\/p>\n PG Publishing\u2019s parent company, Block Communications Inc., announced shortly after the high court ruled that the newspaper will stop publication May 3. It said court decisions requiring it to operate under a previous labor contract made continued publication impossible.<\/p>\n The Third Circuit\u2019s March 2025 injunction ordered PG Publishing to restore its health insurance to what was available in an expired collective bargaining agreement. <\/p>\n In a November 2025 ruling<\/a>, the appeals court enforced a National Labor Relations Board decision<\/a> holding that the company violated federal labor law through bad faith bargaining, declaring an impasse in negotiations, unilaterally implementing its proposals, and surveilling workers.<\/p>\n The Trump administration opposed the company\u2019s request for a stay of the preliminary injunction while it challenges the Third Circuit\u2019s separate decision on the merits of the NLRB\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n PG Publishing improperly attempted to manufacture a crisis worthy of Supreme Court intervention by conflating the Third Circuit\u2019s preliminary injunction\u2014which it didn\u2019t appeal\u2014with the merits decision, Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in a Jan. 5 brief<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents the Post-Gazette\u2019s workers, accused the company in a statement Wednesday of punishing the city and local journalists rather than complying with labor law. PG Publishing wracked up enough legal fees over the course of bargaining to pay for the workers\u2019 proposals several times over, the union alleged.<\/p>\n The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh is an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. The CWA also represents Bloomberg Law employees through an affiliation with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.<\/p>\n PG Publishing is represented by Reich & Paolella LLP, Littler Mendelson PC, and King & Ballow.<\/p>\n