The owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are seeking another court order against its striking workers. The paper filed for injunctive relief late Friday with the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
Lawyers for the paper are asking the court to stop members and supporters of the five unions representing Post-Gazette employees from what it calls “trespassing” at its South Side distribution facility.
The paper accused strikers of blocking the building’s sole entrance and exit, as well as slashing tires, shining flashlights in drivers’ eyes, threatening violence and verbally harassing people.
“Repeated trespassing that includes violent acts and intimidation tactics are at the core of why the company was forced to take this action,” the paper said in a statement Monday.
The Post-Gazette did not immediately respond to additional questions about the complaint.
The petition closely resembles that of a civil complaint filed by the paper’s lawyers last week against Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and other local officials. In it, the paper alleged the city’s police failed to “protect the Post-Gazette’s employees, contractors and their property” by refusing to prevent what it deemed “mass trespassing” at Gateway View Plaza.
If the injunction is granted, it would be enforced by the Allegheny County sheriff’s office rather than City of Pittsburgh police.
Union representatives rejected all of the claims made in that petition, stating anything the paper purports to have happened outside of standard picketing practices was fabricated.
Joe Pass, a lawyer for the paper’s unions, maintained that strikers have a legal right to be on the property and that any picketing actions do not qualify as trespassing.
The terms requested in the latest complaint are similar to those granted in an injunction against the unions issued by a Butler County court last year.
The Nov. 1 order limited the number of in-motion picketers allowed outside the Butler Eagle, where the paper has been printed since the beginning of the strike, to 10. The injunction also banned harassment and restricted access to public sidewalks around the facility.
Pass said the unions have filed an appeal of that ruling and expect a decision in the coming weeks.
