Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to stop printing newspapers in May

"More than five years ago, the newspaper declared it had reached a bargaining impasse with the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and unilaterally imposed terms and conditions of employment on those workers. The paper was later found to have bargained in bad faith by making offers that were not intended to help reach a deal and by declaring an impasse prematurely."

"The announcement that Block was shutting it down came on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court declined the PG Publishing Co. Inc.'s emergency appeal to halt a National Labor Relations Board order that forced it to abide by health care coverage policies in an expired union contract. Andrew Goldstein, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, said the paper's journalists have a long history of award-winning work."

"The Post-Gazette said Block Communications has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over two decades in operating the paper, and the company said it deemed continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable. The Block family said in a statement it was proud of the service the Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century. A phone message seeking comment was left Wednesday at Block Communications headquarters in Toledo, Ohio."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will cease publication on May 3 as Block Communications declared continued cash losses unsustainable. The paper printed Thursdays and Sundays and reported an average paid circulation of 83,000. A couple dozen union members returned in November after a three-year strike. More than five years earlier the company declared a bargaining impasse, imposed employment terms, and was later found to have bargained in bad faith. The U.S. Supreme Court declined an emergency appeal related to a National Labor Relations Board order about health care coverage in an expired union contract. Employees were notified via a prerecorded Zoom video. The paper traces its roots to 1786.

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