BladeGuild ⚔️

The Blade is getting itself into increasing legal trouble with its workers. The latest example? We’ve filed another unfair labor practice charge in recent days over one of our members who was required to perform struck work for our sister paper, the Post-Gazette. THREAD:

Our statement on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sale:

@ThePUPNews We had some hopes for Venetoulis. But we didn’t wait on a savior. Our joint project, PAPER, has announced plans to launch a worker-and-community-owned daily outlet. It’s clear that we need to own our news together. Will you donate today to help claim it? ourpapernow.org

Everyone who regularly published in @thePUPNews, with one exception, was dismissed. The Institute got rid of all but one of our Local officers. That includes multiple members of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Tree of Life shooting.

The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism has begun its ownership of the @PittsburghPG by cutting at least 40% of staff, and 80% of former strikers. It is sad, vindictive, and does not bode well for what we’ve fought and hoped for, including the success of the PG.

Sign this pledge to show your support for @PGHGuild with their new ownership. The pledge calls for the Venetoulis Institute to keep Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staffing robust and bargain in good faith with the union. actionnetwork.org/forms/pledge-t…

Get a shirt to support local journalism via Jupmode and the Press Club of Toledo! Despite our management's latests efforts to slash costs as we move from our historical building, we're here for good. toledopressclub.com/2026/03/press-…

Thank you to all who showed up to give our building the sendoff it deserves after serving us for 99 years!

For nearly — but not quite — one hundred years, N. Superior St. housed generations of Blade employees. Let’s give her the send off she deserves.

On Wednesday, March 11, at 5 p.m., the Toledo NewsGuild invites you to a celebration of life for our dearly departed building. After, we'll head to Earnest Brew Works on Central to commiserate over the preventable and foreseeable death of one of Toledo’s most iconic buildings.

It's about time that the company took the safety concerns of its employees seriously. Tragically, the company allowed a building of such historical significance to Toledo to fall into extreme disrepair.

The Toledo NewsGuild issues the following statement in response and fully supports colleagues in Pittsburgh, both at the Post-Gazette and the recently shuttered City Paper, also owned by BCI:

Block Communications, the parent company of The Blade in Toledo whose employees are represented by NewsGuild/CWA Local 34043, announced Wednesday the closure of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after a string of court rulings that shot down BCI's unfair labor practices in Pittsburgh.

Not even this U.S. Supreme Court was willing to bail the @pittsburghPG out of its violations of labor law. So we got ushered into a meeting, and shown a 2:30 recorded video announcing the paper will close 5/3. Our statement: pghguild.com/2026/01/07/pit…

Huge victory for our union siblings in Pittsburgh after three years on strike! We're cheering for you from Toledo, and are inspired by your fortitude against the union-busting tactics of the Blocks. It makes us more determined in holding the Blocks accountable in our community.

Great being able to get together as a union late last week to watch The Paper, which is set at a fictional newspaper in Toledo. The Blade was scouted by folks behind the show early on in their research process.

Happy Labor Day from the Toledo NewsGuild! We had a great time taking part in the parade today with the other unions that keep Toledo going in all kinds of industries.

We wonder if wannabe union-busting managing editor @MikeBrice congratulated his firefighter son on the well-deserved contract win.

Congratulations to the @IAFF92 on their new contract last month. Toledo is better with union workers getting respect and dignity at work, and we're safer with union firefighters.

Great food and camaraderie at our guild picnic yesterday at Glass City Metropark!

We’re thrilled about The Paper! We noticed though that while the show’s writers had visited our newsroom for research, they missed a detail. The office in the promotional is clearly loosely based on ours. It’s missing the dingy feel and leaky ceiling that we’re familiar with.