• by Ray Schultz , Yesterday

Union members won a major battle on Monday when a federal court ordered the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to compensate staff members for worker’ rights violations committed over the past five years and to “repeal” those practices, the NewsGuild-CWA Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA announced on Monday. 

This decision, which upholds a September 2024 ruling from the National Labor Relations Board, effectively ends the strike that has been going on since October 2022, although it was not clear at deadline if and how this would occur.

Members of the union say they are ready to return to work if the Post-Gazette honors the terms they have demanded. 

The demands include a restoration of the health care plan the company took away in 2020 without bargaining in July of 2020, and its replacement by what the union says is an inferior and more expensive corporate plan. 

In addition, union members want restoration of the former 40-hour work week and the gutting of a short-term disability plan.

The union also asks for return paid time off that was removed for some workers.

“Ever 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’ve been subjected to every step of the way,” says Andrew Goldstein, striking education reporter and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, in a statement. “When we walked out on strike in October 2022 it wasn’t just for us and our rights as workers, we were fighting for fair treatment for the future journalists in Pittsburgh and beyond."