“Six stores in my area are handing their Post-Gazette paper bundle over to me after they receive it so I can return it to the company offices,” Jim “Hutchie” Vanlandingham told the Militant. Vanlandingham is a mailer and the Communications Workers of America union media representative. He is featured in a video and radio ad appealing for support to the strike.
Locals of the CWA and the Teamsters struck the printing facility Oct. 6, with workers facing big increases in medical insurance costs on top of not receiving any wage increases in 16 years. News Guild/CWA-organized newsroom workers walked out Oct. 18 over worsening work conditions.
The twice-a-week print edition is being printed at the nonunion Butler Eagle plant. On Oct. 22, Teamsters and CWA strikers were picketing there when someone in one of the scab delivery trucks sprayed bear spray — a painful, incapacitating weapon — on several of them. Following this incident and close calls with other scab vehicles, Post-Gazette and Butler Eagle managements stepped up violence baiting against the workers and got a compliant judge to issue an injunction to severely limit picketing. The unions are appealing.
Striking reporters are producing an online daily paper, Pittsburgh Union Progress, combining news and strike updates. Visit the picket lines! Build solidarity in your union. Drop your subscription for the duration of the strike. Donate to the strike fund at unionprogress.com.