Session 17: Waiting for Wages
/Pay is always a top issue for IAPE and even more so during collective bargaining, as we understand that for most of our membership the annual compensatory increase in our contract is the only raise they can count on.
We’ve also heard from members who have been promised merit increases that they are on hold until we settle on a new contract. We want to remind you that there is nothing in our agreement that bars the company from granting raises, and that promotions and job changes do take place during negotiation periods. Though we know from experience that management often includes the union-negotiated raise within the merit-raise figure members are presented.
At our Tuesday negotiating session, we again requested from Dow Jones representatives a response to our wage proposal or a counter with their own number for consideration.
While we have had fruitful discussions on health care, the company has told us it is holding out on offering a wage proposal because of dissatisfaction with protections we are seeking during layoffs and around the company’s use of freelancers and contract workers, in particular.
Though we’ve made significant moves to meet the company in the middle on items the company has deemed less important, we know these issues are vital for IAPE members.
The union and the company already have tentative agreements on more than two-dozen items of contract language changes, covering items from the very minor—like the title of our job description document—to more significant matters such as ensuring employees who receive promotions after May 1st in any contract year are still entitled to our annual negotiated pay raises. We have secured additional advance notice of permanent schedule changes for employees, and we have turned back a company proposal to make self-evaluations a mandatory component of the annual performance evaluation process. The company has agreed to a union proposal for additional notice in advance of disciplinary meetings, and to clearly inform members in advance if they are being disciplined.
We will continue to fight for a deal that is best for our members and are ready and willing to strike a fair agreement on health care, wages and other priority items.
The bargaining committee needs your support to get the contract you deserve. Brand new IAPE stickers and buttons are arriving this week in New York, Princeton, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco and Chicago. We are encouraging members to wear their buttons on their lanyards or bags. Notebooks and laptops are great places to display your stickers. We have also rolled out a desktop wallpaper that we all can use as backgrounds and/or screensavers on our computers. You can also find other sizes for social in our Campaign Kit. Stay tuned for events throughout September where you can learn about more ways to support.