Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Political Campaigns Need to Stop Crossing the Picket Line. The Allegheny County Democratic Committee (ACDC) Needs to Fix This and Do Better.

Electing Democrats is the overarching goal of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee and utilizing grassroots political tactics is one of the most powerful and effective ways to accomplish this goal. Democratic committee members are charged with being the Democratic voice in their precincts. Committee members are at their best when they are engaging with their neighbors, talking about issues, and encouraging voters to support Democratic candidates.

This is the mission, the focus of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee (ACDC). I interpret this as a pipeline of sorts of information from the local community up to the party and campaigns.

Now to be fair, I’m skeptical overall of the ACDC. I’ve lived in Manchester for nearly 20 years and no one from the party has ever made contact with me. Same with my prior residences. Still, times are a changing thanks to an influx of progressive Dems.

Still, I am immensely disappointed that the ACDC leadership has not publicly addressed DNC leadership crossing the Post-Gazette workers’ picket line. Twice in three days. Click here to learn more about the strike.

On Sunday, the Harris-Walz campaign staff permitted a scab photojournalist with the Post-Gazette to attend the kick-off rally in Pittsburgh. When union members protested, the staff confabbed and let him stay. I learned about this directly from a union member who was there.

On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi hosted a luncheon featuring the styling of Pittsburgh’s own Billy Porter. Once again, a scab reporter from the Washington Bureau of the PG was admitted and able to file a full story. I learned about this when Google alerts showed me a byline for a scab reporter. I’m not linking. Google  ‘Pelosi, Billy Porter, DNC’

Two of the most powerful women in the nation, two of the most powerful people in the nation both crossed a picket line during a Presidential campaign that allegedly lifts up working people and the labor movement.

Unacceptable.

Disappointed is a gross understatement. I’m sitting at my laptop waiting for Kamala’s speech, tears trickling down my face because the paper means that much to me. The people mean that much to me because they are our neighbors, our friends. I don’t personally know most of them, but I’ve tenderly carried their words with me as I navigated Pittsburgh. I just cannot find the words to convey how much this paper means to me.

If we cannot rely on these two women to respect a strike that has gone on for 23 months, the longest ongoing strike in the US, why would we believe them about, well, anything? Perhaps more importantly if their staff can’t figure out how to keep scabs out or how to walk them out when they sneak in, why would we believe they can control the room?

I’m calling for the ACDC to take immediate and firm action to address this slap in the face of the PG workers and the PG readers. There are millions of PG readers both via the print edition and the online edition.

Here’s what I think should happen, Me, not anyone else. My original thinking. Blame me.

• Both Harris-Walz campaign and Pelosi office apologize to the striking PG workers.
• Harris-Walz lay out how they will avoid repeating this error in the next 2.5 months (or ever.)
• Surrogates with any ties to Pittsburgh take extra care to ensure no scab journalists at events you lend your stature to, either here or outside the region. Ask, Twice. You are on notice. Don’t fuck it up.
• Put the Post-Gazette unions on strike at the forefront of the Labor Day Parade. Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO who organize the parade show solidarity around the political denialism, and perhaps most importantly understand that if it happens to the PG, what’s going to happen with your unions?
• Whomever is the surrogate from the Harris-Walz campaign for the Labor Day festivities gives an exclusive print interview to the strike paper journalists.
• The ACDC immediately meet with the striking workers to discuss this and related issues.

I agree that this happens because people have forgotten about the strike, in part. So everyone needs to be reminded on a national level that Pittsburgh is home to the longest current strike (23 months and counting), a strike that is possibly the longest in Pittsburgh history and one of the longest in the nation.

That needs to be said on a national level in a speech by someone who can remind the whole world that these journalists and other PG employees on strike are fighting for a fair workplace in order to produce a good newspaper. A newspaper informed by facts, a newspaper invested in the community, a newspaper that keeps coming back to tell the stories as they unfold not only while they are trending.

if their staff can’t figure out how to keep scabs out or how to walk them out when they sneak in, why would we believe they can control the room?

Repeatedly, I remind you that this strike has created community level trauma for our entire region. We cannot lose our paper, we cannot continue with the watered down version we have now. We need to put the journalists and other professionals who produce this community asset back to work while allowing them to support their families.

I feel traumatized every time that damn paywall reminds me I canceled my subscription. Each time a story is untold or not robustly told. Think of the events in the past 23 months that suffered the absence of the entire Post-Gazette workforce. I have to work so damn hard to access news on a daily basis, it’s exhausting.

Does anyone think these stories were adequately explored without the journalists who aren’t there? The Tree of Life shooter’s trial? The historic election of Sara Innamorato? East Palestine? swatting? Swifties? Don’t fool yourselves. The best and the brightest have been sidelined by greed, ignorance, and authoritarianism.

You and I, all of neighbors are suffering, too. So don’t hand me bullshit about the ACDC and the National Party and “the goal is to defeat Trump.” NO. The goal is to rebuild a nation that supports us. Of course, Trump isn’t that leader. But if scabs continue to show up at Democratic events without any consequences, we will continue to suffer.

Figure it out, people.

Meannwhile, let’s stop demeaning the sacrifices these working folks and their families have made. Let’s listen to what they have to say. Let’s get them back to work and bring a credible print news outlet back to our region. And for God’s sake people, let’s check our invitation lists to stop giving scabs access to our lives.

I want my paper back.

Donate to the CWA Pittsburgh Striker Fund, which will directly benefit striking PG workers who are facing financial hardships over their choice to stand up for a fair contract.