CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette assemble outside the wedding of Publisher John Block.
Striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers continued their spirited public campaign this afternoon by protesting outside the publisher's Duquesne Club wedding reception.
Beginning around 3:30 p.m., workers and supporters gathered on the sidewalk outside the prestigious Downtown social club, brandishing signs and chanting criticisms against Publisher John Block.
The strikers jeered as guests, including former executive editor Keith Burris, made their way inside. One worker dressed as Santa Claus dropped coals in front of the club's entranceway, prompting staff to emerge from the building with brushes and shovels.
Today's protest is the second time strikers have singled out Block as a source of their frustration, having rallied outside his Shadyside home last month.
Post-Gazette employees in the printing, distribution, and ads departments walked out early October in response to a new health insurance plan they say significantly raises their out-of-pocket payments. A majority of reporters joined with them twelve days later.
The dueling parties reopened negotiations for the first time this week, but both sides say little progress was made.
In a press release issued yesterday, Post-Gazette management accused the strikers of engaging in "unlawful actions" in the form of threats, vandalism, and harassment, which the company says it has reported to the police.
CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Strikers jeer at Keith Burris, the newspaper's former executive editor, as he enters the club.
