Bargaining Update: Pittsburgh Labor Radio Show

In a Press Release, CWA announced:

CWA’s new weekly radio show to highlight voices of Pittsburgh’s union workforce

“Today in Pittsburgh Labor” kicked off with an inside look at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike, where workers have been off the job for over six months

PITTSBURGH - This weekend, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) launched “Today in Pittsburgh Labor,” a radio show airing in partnership with KDKA Radio. The show, which explores the state of labor unions in the Pittsburgh area and features union leaders from across the community, kicked off on Sunday, March 19, with an inside look at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers’ strike. One of the most important labor struggles happening in Pittsburgh today, the Post-Gazette strike shines a light on the broader issues across the labor movement and media industry. The strike started on October 6 after Post-Gazette owner Block Communications effectively cut workers’ healthcare and is now in its sixth month.

“Today in Pittsburgh Labor” is hosted by J-Doc and Joe Krause and airs on Sundays at 11pm ET on 1020 AM/100.1 FM. It comes as Pittsburgh sees a major uptick in union activity and calls for corporate accountability. You can listen to the first episode of “Today in Pittsburgh Labor” here.

“Pittsburgh has a long, proud history of worker activism, and this show will honor that by putting workers’ voices front and center,” said CWA District 2-13 Vice President Ed Mooney. “This is a community that supports workers rights, and our members at the Post-Gazette are proof of that. We’ve been on strike for over six months, and our friends, families, and elected officials in Pittsburgh have been there for us every step of the way. This city does not stand for corporate greed and the anti-worker behavior of companies like Block Communications, and we’re excited to be able to raise these important issues on this weekly show.”

CWA Locals 14842 and 14827 represent Post-Gazette production, distribution, advertising, and accounts receivable workers and The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, TNG-CWA Local 38061, represents journalists at the paper. Post-Gazette workers with Teamsters Local 205/211 and Pressmen’s Union GCC/IBT Local 24M/9N are also on strike. In addition to workers at the Post-Gazette, CWA represents Pittsburgh-area telecommunications, healthcare, higher education, advertising, passenger service, hospitality, brewing, and manufacturing workers.

"Unfortunately, the owners of the Post-Gazette, the Block family, aren't logical people,”
The NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss told “Today in Pittsburgh Labor.” “They would rather spend millions of dollars crushing workers who are just trying to support Pittsburgh with community news through the Post-Gazette website and through the newspaper, and the company would instead rather spend millions of dollars than settle for what would be tens of thousands of dollars to restore health insurance that’s affordable to all the workers in the production facilities and to go back to the contract that was negotiated by the workers in the newsroom three years ago.”

Future episodes will follow the progress of the Post-Gazette strike and feature the voices of supporters including elected officials and members of the business community. Journalists from the Pittsburgh Union Progress, the striking workers’ publication, will highlight stories they are covering, and leaders and members from other Pittsburgh-area unions will join “Today in Pittsburgh Labor” to discuss the issues facing working families in our region.

“The workers at the Post-Gazette have been on strike for months, I mean, these guys and gals have been out there standing up for a basic thing every worker in this country has earned, some dignity on the job, and they've gone more than 15 years without a pay raise,” Rep. Chris Deluzio (PA-17) told “Today in Pittsburgh Labor.” “I've been supporting those workers and standing with them. I had one of those folks, Hutchie VanLandingham, [was my guest] at [the] State of the Union address. I got him down in Washington a couple months back to take their fight to the national stage where I think they need more attention across the country, what's going on here in Western PA.”

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About CWA: The Communications Workers of America represents working people in telecommunications,  customer service, media, airlines, health care, public service and education, manufacturing, tech, and other fields.

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