At first, Jan. 7 felt to Bob Batz Jr. like a triumphant day. The Supreme Court had declined to consider an appeal from Batz’s longtime employer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the latest in a long string of legal victories for the paper’s union. In late November, after more than three years on strike, Batz and 24 colleagues returned to work. Now the Post-Gazette was legally obligated to reinstate the workers’ previous health plan, plus reimburse costs accrued when management failed to bargain in good faith.
A few hours after rejoicing over the Supreme Court news, though, elation turned to mourning. Citing $350 million in losses over 20 years, Block Communications, the Post-Gazette’s owner, announced it would shut down the paper — one of the oldest in the country — effective May 3. The company took no questions from its employees.
The three weeks since have brought a flurry of activity designed to save some version of the Post-Gazette. Batz and his colleagues have been meeting multiple times a week — sometimes with potential funders, sometimes alone — to determine the best path forward. This morning, a group of them announced the launch of the Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting (PAPER), which is raising money to research “worker-owned and nonprofit models as well as the potential for a truly independent Post-Gazette.”
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