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Teamster member assaulted on picket line during Post-Gazette stike

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The News Guild

 

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John Schleuss

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Jon Schleuss, President of the News Guild CWA, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about an assault that occured on the picket lines during a strike by employees of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

For over six months, more than 100 Post-Gazette workers, represented by five unions, have been on strike. The strike is due to the Post-Gazette’s refusal to pay a $19 per week per employee increase in healthcare, which resulted in the loss of coverage for those who work in production, distribution and advertising.

Tensions on the picket line have increased and in mid-March, they erupted. According to Schleuss, on the night of March 11 at the newspaper’s South Side distribution center, a Post-Gazette driver allegedly crossed the picket line and punched two striking workers. One of the injured union members sustained a broken jaw. He is concerned the situation may esclate if the strike continues.

He noted that striking workers at the Post-Gazette continue to cover the news, but not for the newspaper. They now report for themselves through the website Pittsburgh Union Progress.

Schleuss also explained the ramifications of a late-February Federal Communications Commission announcement. On Feb. 24, the FCC said its Media Bureau referred an attempted takeover by the hedge fund Standard General to an administrative law judge for review. Last February, Standard General announced it would acquire TEGNA in an $8.6 billion deal. This will affect more than 60 local news stations throughout the U.S.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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