A three-year strike comes to an end as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette union members vote to return to their posts. In one of the most prolonged cases of a union protest in recent years, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists, part of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, are finally returning to their jobs after parts of their 2022 strike demands were finally granted via a U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Members of the union voted to end the strike by a margin of 21 to 4 on November 13, 2025, but contract negotiations between the employers and employees remain unfinished.
Despite the victory and the return, Post-Gazette labor organizers remain aware that their fight isn’t done. With the newspaper set to appeal the ruling, and the return to work involving the task of facing colleagues who abandoned the protest to rejoin the paper, many challenges still await the celebrating journalists.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Strike Ends as the Journalists Get Set to Return to Their Roles
The strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette began as a challenge to the employer for negotiating in bad faith on union employment contracts and going back on promises made to workers on healthcare, wages, and working hours. Issues with the paper began in 2017, when the Post-Gazette ended an existing union contract, but matters truly began to escalate in 2020, when the warring parties reached an impasse over the contract negotiations. Matters came to a head in 2022, when the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh decided to initiate the strike after years of failed negotiations.
Since then, the issue has made its way through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and federal courts. Despite a 2023 NLRB ruling mandating that the Post-Gazette revert to the union’s last contract, the newspaper allegedly continued to resist complying with the orders.
In 2025, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the NLRB ruling and issued orders to force the company to reinstate the pre-2020 contract. The Appeals court also mandated that the organization provide compensation to workers for healthcare charges levied in 2020 and set the forty-hour workweek back in place, while resuming negotiations.
Post-Gazette Workers Return to Office Nervous and Uncertain of What’s to Come
A three-year strike is hard to return from, and things are no different for workers at the Post-Gazette. The strike originally began with 60 journalists, but most were either forced to seek employment elsewhere or return to their jobs despite their dissatisfaction with the contract. Only twenty-six workers were left on the picket lines, and their return to the organization is bound to cause a ripple at work. “I’m looking forward to having a front-page story again,” Andrew Goldstein, the President of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, told CBS News. “I’m really excited. I would also say a little anxious, maybe even a little nervous.“
Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members involved in the strike remain uncertain of what awaits them as they walk through the doors of their former and current workplace. With their positions having been filed and their employers vehemently against legitimizing the terms of their return, the transition back to work could be grueling. The striking team previously openly expressed hostilities towards striking workers who returned to their jobs, posting a list of “scabs” on their website. It is also apparent that the end of the three-year strike at the Post-Gazette does not leave the members with a finished contract, which still has to be negotiated.
The Post-Gazette has confirmed that it will continue to appeal the decision made by the court and has even threatened to shut down the paper over the irreparable harm that could be caused if the ruling is upheld. “We have endured wars, economic collapse, and seismic industry change—but this moment represents an existential threat unlike any we have faced before,” the Post-Gazette told CJR in a statement.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Strike Stands as an Example of What Union Resistance Can Mean for Organizations
As the Post-Gazette labor organizers prepare to return to their jobs, their prolonged three-year strike is a stark example of what a united labor force can achieve through the support of the NLRB. While not all strikes extend to such an extent to seek a resolution, there is a distinct possibility of prolonged resistance when employees feel unfairly treated. Swedish Tesla workers have similarly been on strike since October 2023, with their resistance showing no signs of slowing down.
More recent conflicts at Boeing and Starbucks also reflect the growing desire for unionization and the resistance that employees are willing to show when their demands are not met. For now, we will have to wait to see how matters proceed next at the Post-Gazette and whether the organization is able to overturn the decision or chooses to comply with it.
What do you think about the results of the strike at the Post-Gazette and the results achieved by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh? Share your opinions with us. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights on workplace trends, layoffs, and what to expect with the advent of AI.