The Latest in the Ongoing Labor Dispute at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On January 7, 2026, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the leading newspaper in the City of Pittsburgh, announced that it would cease operations effective May 2026. This announcement comes on the heels of a ruling from the United States Supreme Court on January 7 in which it denied the Post-Gazette’s request for a stay of an injunction issued by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the ongoing labor dispute between the newspaper and the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), represents editorial department employees, among others, at the newspaper.

The labor dispute between these two parties dates back to 2017, when the collective bargaining agreement between the Post-Gazette and the Newspaper Guild expired. Under that agreement, bargaining unit members received health benefits through the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employees Welfare Fund (Fund). The parties negotiated over a successor contract until July 2020, when the newspaper declared impasse and unilaterally changed the workers’ terms and conditions of employment, including moving bargaining unit members out of the Fund and into the newspaper’s health insurance plan.

The workers went on strike in October 2022, simultaneously filing various unfair labor practice charges against the Post-Gazette with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB ultimately concluded that the Post-Gazette had violated federal law by bargaining in bad faith, unlawfully declaring impasse, and surveilling employees in the exercise of their lawfully protected rights. A panel of the Third Circuit affirmed the order of the NLRB and issued an injunction, forcing the newspaper to reinstate pre-strike health care benefits. It subsequently denied the Post-Gazette’s motion to stay the injunction. In the meantime, the striking workers returned to work in November 2025, ending the strike, and the Post-Gazette petitioned the United States Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the injunction issued by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Initially, on December 22, 2025, the Supreme Court, through an order issued by Justice Samuel Alito, granted the Post-Gazette’s motion to temporarily stay the injunction issued by the Third Circuit that forced the Post-Gazette to reinstate the health care benefits of former striking workers and to return to the table to bargain a new contract with the Newspaper Guild. Before the Supreme Court, the Post-Gazette contended that compliance with the injunction would have “catastrophic” economic and legal effects. In granting the Post-Gazette’s request for a stay, the Supreme Court effectively paused – temporarily – the Third Circuit’s order, in which the newspaper was compelled to reinstate health benefits and return to the bargaining table.

In the meantime, both the Newspaper Guild and the National Labor Relations Board were given an opportunity to respond before the Supreme Court. Upon receipt of those responses, Justice Alito denied the newspaper’s application for a stay, vacating his previous order.

In the meantime, the newspaper, on December 24, 2025, filed a petition to have the case, on its merits, reheard en banc by the Third Circuit. Depending on what the Third Circuit does with the petition, this case – on the merits – could reach the United States Supreme Court for consideration in 2026.

Should that happen, it would represent an opportunity for the Supreme Court to weigh in on significant issues of private sector labor law, including the standard of review given to administrative agencies by the courts, what is necessary for a finding of bad faith by an employer during negotiations with a labor union, and what remedies are available to unions and workers in the event of a violation of federal law by an employer. It is unclear at this time what effect the newspaper’s closure in May 2026 will have on the litigation.

To date, the strike by the News Guild at the Post-Gazette is the longest strike in the Newspaper Guild’s history, and the longest-running strike in U.S. history for a news organization.

The experienced labor lawyers at Willig, Williams & Davidson will be closely monitoring the case and its implications for unions and working people.