• by Ray Schultz , Yesterday

The National Labor Relations Board has filed a motion with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to hold PG Publishing, publisher of the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette, in contempt for refusing to comply with an injunction issued by the court. 

That injunction, issued in March, required that the paper rescind “unilateral” changes it made to employees’ health insurance in 2020.  

“The time for full compliance with the Court’s March 24 Order is long past, and in the meantime the bargaining-unit employees bear the weight of the Company’s ongoing disobedience,” the emergency motion argues.

The Post-Gazette faces daily compounding fines over its refusal to comply, the union states.

In April, the Third Circuit rejected two attempts by the Post-Gazette to appeal the order.

“While NewsGuild workers pile up win after win, the Post-Gazette is continuing to defy federal law and play games with the court rather than give us what they owe us,” says Zack Tanner, president of Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “Our demands to the company have been the same for years: Restore our contract, including our health care, and stop breaking the law.”

The provisions included in the discarded contract included healthcare, paid time off, short-term disability and wage scales, the union charges. 

Union editorial workers have been on strike since October 18, 2022.