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PITTSBURGH – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s appeal of a ruling requiring the company to pay back its workers—members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061)—for the cuts to pay, illegally implemented increases in health care costs, and other unilateral changes to their working conditions.
Millions of dollars are owed to current and former PG employees. And the PG has no further venue for appeal.
“I’ve actually lost count of the number of agencies, judges, courts, and other authorities that have told the Blocks that the workers were right and the multi-millionaires were wrong. Our members were the first to tell them—more than nine years ago now,” said Jon Schleuss, President of The NewsGuild-CWA. “It’s staggering to think how much money and time the company wasted on losing when that could have been spent on dignified working conditions and improving the caliber of local journalism. The Block family’s efforts to delay accountability are finished. We look forward to seeing justice served so that our award-winning journalists can continue to focus on holding power to account.”
Unionized editorial workers of the Post-Gazette went on strike in October of 2022, demanding a restoration of the contract the company illegally tore up, including dignified health care. In November of 2025, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals enforced the ruling of the National Labor Relations Board, ordering the PG to do so.
With their strike demands secured, union journalists returned to the PG on Nov. 24, 2025.
The Post-Gazette, which was owned by the Block family until May 4, would go on to lose an appeal of a concurrent 3rd Circuit Court injunction restoring the health care plan that was unlawfully cancelled. The Newspaper Guild, the AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Solicitor General filed briefs arguing against the company’s repeatedly defeated position.
“A lot of honest, determined people sacrificed more than most know to get this ruling enforced and finalized,” said Andrew Goldstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “The Blocks and their co-conspirators in company management and elsewhere knowingly and willfully broke federal law for years, bringing untold harm to not only their workers but the news industry more broadly. We’re looking forward to getting quite literal payback and hope this serves as a warning to similarly reckless owners. Shame on the Blocks.”
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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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Note: This was first published by CWA.
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