Raymond Boyd via Getty Images Staff at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have accused the paper's publisher of threatening to “burn the place down” and punish them for engaging with their union. The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is accused of going on a drunken verbal rampage in its newsroom Saturday night in which witnesses say he threatened to “burn the place down” and “close the whole paper.”John Robinson Block, the vice chairman of Post-Gazette owner Block Communications Inc., is facing a federal labor complaint over the incident. Employees described Block as “ranting like a madman” as he blasted their union and threatened staff, all while forcibly tugging along his sobbing 12-year-old daughter, according to local news outlet The Incline. According to the published accounts, Block arrived at the newsroom around 10 p.m. and took issue over a sign reading “Shame on the Blocks!” that was posted on the Guild’s newsroom bulletin board. The sign had been posted to protest the company’s refusal to cover price increases in employee health care costs and 13 years without raises.

Source: Huffington Post February 14, 2019 18:45 UTC