2 Papers Stop Publishing in Trucker Strike

Publication of the city’s two daily newspapers, interrupted by a bitter truck drivers’ dispute, was suspended Tuesday after two days of unsuccessful attempts to distribute copies.

“The kind of violence and conditions we’ve seen the last two days led the Press to take this action,” said David Holcombe, attorney for the Pittsburgh Press Co.

Holcombe said the suspension will last indefinitely. He also announced that negotiations between the company and Teamsters Local 211 resumed Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Press Co. publishes the Pittsburgh Press, an afternoon paper, and prints and distributes the morning Pittsburgh Post-Gazette under a joint operating agreement.

The Teamsters went on strike May 17 over a company plan to streamline delivery and eliminate 450 of 605 jobs and all 4,500 youth carriers. The company said Monday it was proposing instead to eliminate 275 jobs and all youth carriers.

On Monday, the first day that the papers published since May 17, jeering strikers prevented trucks from leaving the papers’ headquarters. Some copies were delivered from other sites.

Striking drivers picketed distribution points around the city Tuesday to close gaps in their blockade. Many delivery trucks were damaged, the company said.

Many of the pickets outside the company’s headquarters cheered and then left when they heard the news of the publication suspension. Company headquarters on Monday was ringed by 4,000 members of several unions, but drew only 75 protesters Tuesday.

“They took on the wrong city,” said striking delivery driver Sid Gillis. “We’re going to show the nation unionism is not dead.”

Judge Lee Mazur of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court announced the company’s decision before a hearing on the company’s request to limit pickets at its headquarters. With the suspension of publication, he said, “There will be an end to the picketing and therefore an end to the disturbances.”

“If this leads to serious negotiation, then obviously it is a very constructive move,” said William Block, chairman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.