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Family Business · Journalism Ethics · Labor Relations · Media Industry
Block Communications' newspaper divisions, the _Toledo Blade_ and _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_, face severe internal turmoil marked by mass employee resignations, protracted labor disputes, and accusations of editorial interference by owners John Robinson Block and Allan Block, resulting in 94 out of 238 guild members departing by 2021.
This conflict escalated following an intoxicated outburst by publisher John Robinson Block in the _Post-Gazette_ newsroom in February 2019. Newsroom guilds have filed over a dozen complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for unfair labor practices, with a recent NLRB complaint issued against Block Communications Inc.
(BCI) and the _Post-Gazette_ for bad-faith bargaining. Employees report no pay raises for fifteen years and a contract proposal characterized by Zack Tanner, president of the Post-Gazette Guild, as slashing pay, health insurance, and pensions.
Owners John and Allan Block acknowledge the newspapers are unprofitable but refuse to sell, despite internal family disagreements and public statements from Susan Allan Block in 2018 calling the _Blade_ "way more trouble than it's worth." The company has not specified a plan to improve conditions, with John Block dismissing both hedge fund acquisitions and nonprofit models for local media. The ongoing litigation and deep-seated animosity between management and staff indicate continued operational challenges for the Block Communications media assets.
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