Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Strikers Win Victory for the Right to Picket

CWAers waging America’s longest-running strike have won a precedent-setting legal victory that will protect the rights of workers to picket their employer without fear of intimidation.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania denied a final appeal by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PG) and affirmed a Superior Court ruling that upheld the right of striking workers to picket, which is protected under both state and federal laws. The Post-Gazette had initially sought an injunction to prevent their striking employees from picketing a PG facility where scab workers were doing the work of union members.

“The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rightly saw through the Post-Gazette’s attempts to intimidate workers exercising their right to join together and has denied the PG’s effort to waste all of our time in court when we should be meeting at the bargaining table,” said CWA District 2-13 Vice President Mike Davis. “CWA members have been on strike for more than two years, and with their dedication and solidarity, they have won important legal victories that affirm the rights of all working people in Pennsylvania.”

“This reinforces what we’ve been saying all along,” said Natalie Duleba, striking editor and page designer and secretary of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061). “The injunction was yet another waste of resources and a clear attempt at intimidation. We look forward to the company accepting its wrongs and putting its time and money to better use by respecting us and bargaining a contract that includes dignified health care and reinstating the terms they illegally tore up years ago.”

For bringing this frivolous lawsuit to undermine workers’ right to take collective action, the Post-Gazette now owes the cost of legal fees to the striking unions, CWA Locals 14827 and 14842, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA, and PPPWU Local 24M/9N.

The Post-Gazette is facing multiple court cases for its unlawful conduct, including a ruling expected next month on the National Labor Relations Board’s request for an injunction against the PG for its numerous violations of labor law against advertising workers, mailers, and press workers. Then, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will take up the NLRB’s request for an injunction over the PG’s numerous violations of labor law against its editorial workers—members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh-CWA.

---

This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.