'Pittsburgh Post-Gazette' May Sell If Labor Agreements Not Reached

By: Joe Strupp The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette might be put up for sale at the end of the year if it cannot convince union leaders to accept cost-cutting proposals, the paper reported Thursday.

Block Communications, which also owns the labor-troubled Blade of Toledo, Ohio, "is prepared to put the 220-year-old [Post-Gazette] up for sale if it fails to reach cost-cutting labor agreements with its labor unions. The paper cited accelerating operating losses, including nearly a $12 million loss through August," a story in today's editions stated.

"Pittsburgh has serious problems and they get worse with each passing day," Post-Gazette marketing director Tracey DeAngelo said in the story. "The paper's not on the selling block. The goal here is to reach labor agreements by Dec. 31 and keep the newspaper under current ownership."

The paper reported that its four-year contracts with 14 unions representing 954 full-time and 172 part-time employees would expire on Dec. 31. Management reportedly submitted a contract proposal to the unions in March and "has not received a substantive response," DeAngelo told the paper.

The Post-Gazette reported that the unions "have said the company's proposals go beyond pay and benefit concessions and would gut most of the job protections the unions have won through bargaining over the years. Union leaders met with the company in March but decided not to continue over the summer as long as the company refused to adjust its original proposal."

The hint of a Post-Gazette sale comes as the Blade is embroiled in a serious labor battle with seven of its eight unions, having locked out members of five bargaining units and failed to reach agreement with the local Newspaper Guild. That dispute has lead to a major subscription cancellation campaign by the unions, as well as an advertising boycott.

The Post-Gazette has suffered operating losses of $23 million since 2003 and is on track to report a record loss this year, the paper reported, citing a company statement. The paper added that it had been profitable during six of the 13 years since it acquired The Pittsburgh Press in 1992 and resumed publication after a seven-month strike.