About the Speed not Greed Coalition
Dear friends and neighbors,
At the Toledo NewsGuild and the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh – the unions representing many of the workers of the Toledo Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – we love what we do. We love the newspapers and the legacy of local journalism in the cities of Toledo and Pittsburgh. We love bringing our readers timely, accurate, and invaluable information about the concerns, controversies, and day-to-day lives of the people of these vibrant cities.
In fact, it seems we love it more than the owners and managers of newspapers, Block Communications Inc. (BCI), who have undermined the ability of the respective staffs to maintain that legacy, placed greed ahead of mission, and forced dozens of experienced journalists and business-side employees to leave.
The Toledo NewsGuild has been fighting for a fair contract from the Toledo Blade, and BCI, for four years with no resolution and little progress. In Pittsburgh, Guild members are approaching five years without a contract; the company ended negotiations at the Post-Gazette and unilaterally imposed its own work rules.
Instead of investing in employees, BCI’s leaders are spending a fortune on their fight to make further cuts in our benefits, compensation and workplace rights.
The fact is, BCI leaders have been poor stewards of their local journalism legacy in Toledo and Pittsburgh. They are spending millions on out-of-town lawyers to avoid investing in our own communities. The situation at The Blade and Post-Gazette are emblematic of BCI’s corporate greed and disregard for workers and our cities, and it doesn’t end at the company’s newspapers.
That’s why we have formed the Speed Not Greed campaign. This site lets customers of broadband
services test the speed of their internet service, and gives them a way to do something about their concerns. Speed Not Greed aims to hold internet service providers accountable and ensure consumers are getting the full internet service they are paying for. This helps consumers evaluate their choices and options.
It’s important to us that the people of Toledo and Pittsburgh have reliable internet service. In recent years, The Blade and Post-Gazette have stopped printing the paper five days a week and instead offer local news online only. That means that our readers can’t get the important news and information we work hard to provide unless they have a strong, reliable internet connection.
If the rich and powerful of Toledo and Pittsburgh won’t look out for our communities, it’s up to us to look out for ourselves. That’s what we are doing: standing up for the ability to provide vital local journalism and fair compensation. And we are also standing up for the health and vibrancy of our cities. We encourage all people of Toledo and Pittsburgh to stand with us!
