Pittsburgh Newspaper Loses at Top Court, Announces Closure (2)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s publisher failed to convince the US Supreme Court to halt a lower court order requiring the company to make changes to its health insurance coverage for union workers, apparently triggering the newspaper’s closure.

The justices rejected on Wednesday PG Publishing Co.’s request to freeze a temporary injunction issued by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit more than nine months ago. Their order, which vacated Justice Samuel Alito’s Dec. 22 stay that had paused the appeals court’s injunction, didn’t explain their reasoning for ruling against the company.

PG Publishing’s parent company, Block Communications Inc., announced shortly after the high court ruled that the newspaper will stop publication May 3. It said court decisions requiring it to operate under a previous labor contract made continued publication impossible.

The Third Circuit’s March 2025 injunction ordered PG Publishing to restore its health insurance to what was available in an expired collective bargaining agreement.

In a November 2025 ruling, the appeals court enforced a National Labor Relations Board decision holding that the company violated federal labor law through bad faith bargaining, declaring an impasse in negotiations, unilaterally implementing its proposals, and surveilling workers.

The Trump administration opposed the company’s request for a stay of the preliminary injunction while it challenges the Third Circuit’s separate decision on the merits of the NLRB’s findings.

PG Publishing improperly attempted to manufacture a crisis worthy of Supreme Court intervention by conflating the Third Circuit’s preliminary injunction—which it didn’t appeal—with the merits decision, Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in a Jan. 5 brief.

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents the Post-Gazette’s workers, accused the company in a statement Wednesday of punishing the city and local journalists rather than complying with labor law. PG Publishing wracked up enough legal fees over the course of bargaining to pay for the workers’ proposals several times over, the union alleged.

The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh is an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. The CWA also represents Bloomberg Law employees through an affiliation with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.

PG Publishing is represented by Reich & Paolella LLP, Littler Mendelson PC, and King & Ballow.

The case is PG Publishing Co. v. NLRB, U.S., No. 25A725, stay denied 1/7/26.