• by Ray Schultz , October 23, 2022

The ongoing strike at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette led to the resignation of Lisa Cunningham as editor in chief of Pittsburgh City Paper last week.  

Cunningham quit to protest the decision by The Butler Eagle, owner of the City Paper, to print the Post-Gazette during the strike. 

"Let it be clear that I do condemn Butler Eagle’s decision to print the Post-Gazette during a strike, and I condemn any business that allows its employees to work under abusive conditions, " according to the City Paper.

For its part, The Butler Eagle wrote it is “currently serving as one of the printers of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which is involved in a labor dispute with a minority of its employees.”

Butler continues, “The Eagle made the decision to try and assist all Post-Gazette employees as well as management in surviving through this turmoil.”

Butler continues, “It is our firm belief that if the Post-Gazette fails to distribute a print product for any length of time it would cause the end of the Post-Gazette. Only through the assistance of a third party will the jobs of the workers -- and maybe even the future of the company --- survive. 

However, Newspaper Guild journalists have “joined this picket line and withheld our labor alongside our union siblings as we escalate our fight to have our collectively bargained contract restored and look toward our next contract to secure journalism in the Pittsburgh region,” said Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president Zack Tanner in a press release, according to the City Paper.  

Tanner adds, “We’re fighting for better wages and affordable healthcare for every single worker at the Post-Gazette. “

The Communication Workers of America, which represents mailers and typographers, walked out earlier this month over a dispute about higher insurance premiums, and has been joined by the Temasters and Pressmen, according to Next. 

The strikers say the owners refused to pay the new expense but the paper counters that they were offered a raise to offset the higher costs.