Become an IAPE Steward!

Interested in joining the IAPE union steward network? Sign up for a virtual info session! Hosted by current IAPE stewards and board members–the sessions will take place on Tuesday, March 4 and Wednesday, March 12 at 1:00 p.m. ET and 5:00 p.m. ET. Join us to learn the answers to all your burning questions like “what even is a union steward?” and “how much of a time commitment is it?” (hint: not a lot!) 

Register via this google form to lock in your spot today. Can’t wait to see you there!

Join us for IAPE 101

If you were recently hired by Dow Jones, or if you transferred from a non-union position into your current role sometime over the past year, and if you ever wondered where you can go to find out more about this thing called IAPE, we have a suggestion:

Sign up for IAPE 101.

Tomorrow—Wednesday, Feb. 26—at 2:00 p.m. EST, join us for this Zoom presentation and learn more about IAPE. We’ll cover all the basic questions: what is a union? How did you end up in a union? And most importantly, what are the benefits of being in a union?

If you can stick around beyond the first half-hour, we’ll open the virtual floor for any questions you might have.

IAPE veterans, you’re welcome to join, too.

To register and receive your Zoom invitation, sign up through the IAPE Events page. While you’re there, feel free to enroll for the next installment of IAPE Contract 101, scheduled for March 19.

IAPE Joins SPJ Statement Calling on Trump Administration to Lift AP Ban

As an organization representing employees committed to journalistic values of fairness and objectivity, IAPE does not take positions on political issues. There is an exception, the same one that applies to Dow Jones’s general prohibition on news staff expressing opinions on political issues: Freedom of the Press, which, as if it needed to be said, both IAPE and the Dow Jones employees we represent unreservedly favor.

When an autocratic foreign government arrested WSJ correspondent Evan Gershkovich on bogus charges, we organized protests and took steps to push for his release and emphasize the broader principle that “journalism is not a crime.” Threats to that freedom have always existed within the U.S.; not for nothing does the First Amendment explicitly protect the press from government interference.

The Trump administration, you may have heard, has evicted the Associated Press from the White House and from Air Force One in retaliation for the news cooperative’s decision to retain the geographic descriptor “Gulf of Mexico” for a body of water the president directed the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to redesignate as “Gulf of America.” According to a 1954 Interior Department bulletin, the term “Gulf of Mexico” first appeared on a world map in 1550, and since the 17th century has been the internationally accepted name for the body of water.

IAPE takes no position on controversies of geographic nomenclature. But we do view it as a grave affront to the foundational principles of democracy for the federal government to coerce a news organization to alter its stylebook to promote the president’s agenda. Inane as the administration’s grievance may be, its retaliation, inflicting a serious disservice on the public the AP serves, is intolerable. Officials must be dissuaded from efforts to impress news organizations into promoting the president’s agenda, for intimidation of the press can only grow when the government has even greater objectives at stake—ones it may believe are better advanced by suppressing independent reporting of its actions.

On Thursday, the IAPE Board of Directors voted unanimously to join a statement of protest circulated by the national Society of Professional Journalists and signed by other media employee associations, including other NewsGuild locals. The statement is below.

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Joint statement of journalist-support organizations on government attacks on press freedom  

Fair, accurate and independent reporting is essential to a functioning democracy. Without it, corruption and misinformation flourish. As organizations that champion journalists and the public’s right to know, we strongly condemn the campaign underway in Washington to penalize independent reporting on the government and its activities.

In a protracted war over words, the Trump administration has banned the Associated Press from White House events because the news service continues to call the “Gulf of Mexico” by its long-standing name while acknowledging the president’s executive order renaming it the “Gulf of America.”

This disturbing challenge to journalistic independence is part of a troubling pattern that extends well beyond the White House press corps. For example, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Communications Commission has taken extraordinary steps to investigate and intimidate broadcasters over their internal policies and constitutionally protected editorial decisions. These actions by the head of this historically bipartisan, independent regulatory body set a dangerous precedent and risk giving the government greater control over which voices are heard.

The administration also has evicted longtime news organizations from the Pentagon pressroom, giving their desks to news outlets that favorably covered the administration’s agenda.

President Trump and his congressional allies have long opposed what they viewed as government efforts to coerce speech. In 2023, for example. U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and 44 other members of Congress said as much in a brief submitted in a U.S. Supreme Court case in which conservatives accused the Biden administration of coercing social media platforms to adopt pro-COVID vaccine policies. That brief in Murthy v. Missouri stated, “Official pressure to suppress speech violates the First Amendment.”

When leaders try to silence reporters through intimidation, legal threats and denial of access, they are not protecting the country; they are protecting themselves from scrutiny. This is how authoritarian regimes operate — by crushing dissent, punishing those who expose inconvenient facts and replacing truth with propaganda.

The First Amendment is an integral part of the U.S. Constitution that President Trump swore to “preserve, protect and defend.” He also signed an executive order on day one to "ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen." The president must abide by his oath of office and executive order and ensure that First Amendment principles are forcefully upheld.

In a nation founded on freedom of speech, regardless of party or ideology, the government can never compel agreement with its viewpoint as a condition of access to information. The administration must lift the ban on AP. And the administration must cease punishing news organizations based on their reporting.

Society of Professional Journalists

AAN Publishers (formerly Association of Alternative Newsmedia)

American Society of Magazine Editors

Asian American Journalists Association

Associated Collegiate Press

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Buffalo Newspaper Guild - CWA Local 31026

Criminal Justice Journalists

Defending Rights & Dissent 

Denver Newspaper Guild - CWA Local 37074

Education Writers Association

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Inter American Press Association (IAPA) 

IAPE, Local 1096, TNG-CWA

Indigenous Journalists Association

iSolon.org

Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS)

Military Reporters & Editors

National Association of Black Journalists

National Association of Hispanic Journalists

National Association of Science Writers

National Federation of Press Women

National Press Photographers Association

National Scholastic Press Association

National Writers Union 

NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists

New Hampshire NewsGuild

Online News Association

Project Censored

Public Media Journalists Association

Quill and Scroll 

Radio Television Digital News Association 

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW)

Society of Environmental Journalists

The Association of Health Care Journalists

The Media Guild of the West - CWA Local 39213

The NewsGuild-CWA

The News Media Guild, Local 31222, TNG-CWA (union representing AP journalists)

The NewsGuild of New York 

The NewsGuild of Philadelphia TNG-CWA Local 38010

Toledo NewsGuild, CWA Local 34043

Washington-Baltimore News Guild

Denying Credit Where it’s Due: WSJ Restricting Bylines Again

Have you heard the news?

For weeks, rumors of management plans to limit the number of bylines on stories have been swirling through WSJ newsrooms. This week, during several department meetings with staff, top Journal editors confirmed the message—no more than three bylines on stories, and no taglines. One editor apparently referred to this new “policy” as “non-negotiable.”

They must be new here.

Bylines and taglines are long-accepted practices in our newsrooms. IAPE considers them forms of recognition, perhaps even compensation for our union-represented News staff. Managers certainly aren’t shy about referring to bylines during performance evaluation and disciplinary meetings. A Journal byline is deserved credit for a job well done. Byline and tagline limits will reduce transparency about who and how many journalists contributed to work we are proud of. Members are also concerned about how the limits could undermine newsroom collaboration, as management’s message discourages reporters from helping each other. 

It’s as if management turned to AI with the question, what’s a way to further diminish newsroom morale while providing no economic or journalistic benefit to the company? Answer: gratuitously take from rank-and-file workers a small but long-established form of recognition that costs the company nothing. 

We would love to give credit to a member of News management, but it isn’t clear where this recycled–and more onorous–plan originated, or what supposedly justifies it. We understand that editors received a written edict imposing the restrictions, but it has been withheld from the affected employees. Yes, we’ve been down this road before, challenging claims of new byline limits in 2020, 2018 and 2017. Ten years ago, editors told reporters that then-EIC Gerry Baker was upset about “too many bylines” on smaller stories. When we approached the company’s Legal Department with a complaint about management implementing new workplace policies without approaching the union, management responded: “no new policy exists.”

So, we’ll complain to Legal again. Before we do, we would love to hear from you: have you been told that the Journal now has a limit on bylines, or that taglines have been eliminated? Have you lost a byline or tagline as a result? If you have any information you can share, send a note to union@iape1096.org. All submissions will be held in confidence.

Meanwhile, we’d suggest that reporters who believe a colleague deserves a tagline or a fourth byline include it in stories they submit and retain a copy for their records. Managers are free to delete those taglines and bylines, but they should know who has contributed to our news report even if Dow Jones prefers to conceal that information from our readers. 

Incidentally, since the company has decided to reuse old ideas, we might as well share the same guidance we had for members back in 2015: When it comes to bylines or taglines, nothing prevents an employee from asking: “Will I receive a byline/credit for this story?” It is also acceptable to inform a manager in advance that you would rather not perform work without receiving credit, if that is how you feel. Just remember: after stating their preference, employees should never refuse a direct assignment from a manager or supervisor.

Latest WSJ Reorg Rattles Newsroom

IAPE is monitoring the unfolding restructuring to ensure management respects members’ rights under the contract

WSJ leadership announced the latest large-scale—and unsettling—restructuring in the newsroom this week, mainly affecting the Life & Work teams. While IAPE has received no notices of member layoffs in that or other departments this week, we are concerned about a lack of communication by management about the restructuring’s aims. What shoe will drop next? 

Our collective bargaining agreement does allow for the “transfer of jobs within the same location,” a provision IAPE insisted on during 2019 contract negotiations. We are monitoring the new structure to ensure the moves were made properly under contract obligations related to departments—defined by our contract as a “distinct functional/operational group”—and seniority. 

We know positions outside of the IAPE bargaining unit were eliminated this week and that many of our members are shouldering the difficult departure of longtime colleagues and are fearful about their own job security. IAPE board members and stewards are available if you have questions about your seniority, concerns regarding your rights, tips about layoffs to share (because we rely on information from our members) or just need to talk. As always, you can email union@iape1096.org to be connected with a board member or steward. 

We’re left with the same questions we’ve been asking for years: When will this end? Can we stop living in fear and focus on doing good work? What is the point of all these changes, really? 

In other labor news, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox were fired from their positions on Monday. These actions leave the NLRB without a quorum, as only two of five labor board positions remain filled, and the NLRB can’t perform any federal labor law enforcement, at least in the short term. The long-term impact on any pending or future CWA, TNG or IAPE proceedings in the NLRB pipeline is not immediately clear.

The IAPE board and staff are monitoring the situation. Read the CWA statement here: https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/cwa-condemns-donald-trumps-firing-nlrbs-jennifer-abruzzo-and-gwynne-wilcox

Holiday Pay: What the Company Owes You

File for your pay, don’t forget the extra day!

Monday, Jan. 20, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a contract-recognized holiday for IAPE-represented employees working in the United States. It’s also Inauguration Day, which means a lot of news coverage and a lot of IAPE members who will be earning Holiday Pay.

Recently, the Dow Jones People department provided managers with some Holiday Pay guidance: “If an employee works on a holiday recognized by the company they have the option of selecting another day off or being paid out for the holiday. If they choose to be paid out there's a form that needs to be filled out and the manager has to submit that to HR.”

While this information is helpful, it only describes one half of your Holiday Pay entitlement. To receive your actual Holiday Pay—1.5X pay for your first seven hours of work, 2X pay for time in excess of seven hours—you must enter all your time worked in Workday.

Because—and this is important—whenever you work on a contract-recognized holiday, you earn Holiday Pay and you receive either an extra day off in lieu of the holiday, or an extra day’s pay.

For holidays between Jan. 1 and July 3 in any calendar year, your manager must approve any request to cash out an extra day off. Extra days earned for working holidays between July 4 and Dec. 31 may be cashed out without a manager’s permission.

So, please remember: use the form provided by HR if you want to request cash for your extra day. But first, file all hours worked on Monday—or on any holiday—in Workday. It’s your money!

* * *

A special note for members who usually work Tuesday through Saturday or Wednesday through Sunday schedules: because Monday is your regular day off, you also receive an extra day off in lieu of the holiday on Monday. If you are required to work on Monday, IAPE and Dow Jones have a history of recognizing hours worked as payable at 2X your normal pay rate. Please contact the IAPE office for guidance on filing for your Holiday Pay.

Aetna Fixes Deductible Foul-Up

Swift Action by IAPE Members Prevents Healthcare Cost Error

A coding error by Aetna last week caused several Dow Jones employees to worry 2025 was going to be a very expensive year for healthcare.

On Thursday, keen-eyed IAPE members noticed that calendar year deductible amounts for Aetna POS II plan subscribers had ballooned to $3,300 for in-network coverage and $6,600 for out-of-network expenses, rather than the $600 and $1,200 amounts defined in 2025 open enrollment materials. Calls to Aetna customer service confirmed the significantly higher deductible amounts.

After members contacted the IAPE office with questions about the accuracy of Aetna’s records, union officials immediately alerted the Dow Jones Legal Department to the new deductible rates. News Corp’s Benefits Department responded to IAPE on Friday morning with news that an Aetna coding error caused inaccurate deductible amounts to be applied to POS II subscribers. The Benefits Department said that all Aetna records should be corrected this week.

The company credited IAPE members for bringing this error to its attention.

This POS II deductible snafu is a great example of how union members can join together, share information and resolve problems in the workplace. Members brought an issue to the attention of management, through their union representatives, and received timely updates via IAPE Slack (if you’re a member who has not yet subscribed, you can register here). Management acted quickly to correct an error in a contractually-protected benefit.

If you are aware of a workplace problem you believe needs to be addressed by IAPE, please email the union office or contact one of your area IAPE Directors.

Tangel Elected IAPE Treasurer

The nominations period for the 2024 IAPE Special Election has closed, and the Elections Committee has declared Andrew Tangel the new Treasurer for IAPE TNG-CWA Local 1096. He was the only nominee, making a membership vote unnecessary under the rules for this election.

A Wall Street Journal reporter since 2014, Tangel covers aviation safety and regulation, and previously reported on transportation in New York City.

Tangel fills a vacancy created after the departure of previous Treasurer Austen Hufford, who resigned his position in November. The term of office for IAPE Treasurer, and all current officer and director positions on the IAPE Board, will continue through Nov. 30, 2026.

Twice as Thankful for Holiday Pay

The officers, directors and staff of IAPE TNG-CWA Local 1096 would like to extend best wishes for a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday to all members working in the United States. The IAPE office will close Wednesday afternoon for an extended weekend and will reopen bright and early Monday morning.

IAPE-represented Dow Jones employees working in the U.S. who are required to work on the Thanksgiving holiday are reminded to file for Holiday Pay. Whether you are considered overtime eligible or overtime exempt, you are entitled to claim this benefit: 1.5X pay for all regular hours worked on Thanksgiving Day, and 2X pay for any extra hours worked. Members are also entitled to choose between an extra day’s pay or an additional day off in lieu of working on a holiday.

And on Friday, get ready to file for your Holiday Pay all over again! Yes, the Day After Thanksgiving is also a contract holiday this year. Same terms apply as on Thanksgiving: all U.S.-based members are eligible; 1.5X pay for regular hours and 2X pay for extra hours; plus an extra day’s pay or day off.

Remember: in order to receive your compensation, all Holiday Pay hours must be entered into Workday (select “holiday worked” and enter your number of hours worked). You must also inform your manager whether you wish to receive extra pay or additional time off for your day(s) worked. If you choose to take the time off, there is no requirement to use the day in the same pay period.

It’s your money—file for it!

Thinking of Selling Vacation Time?
Do you have an extra week of vacation time you’re not able to schedule this year? Is your salary $78,000 or less? You don’t need to let that week expire at the end of the year. Article IX of the IAPE/Dow Jones contract provides the ability for some members to sell vacation time back to the company.

Section E of that Article states, “An Employee who is entitled to at least three weeks of vacation and whose compensation is $1,500 per week or less will be granted one week's pay in lieu of one week's vacation at the request of the Employee.”

If you qualify and you want to sell a week of vacation time, inform your manager and contact your Dow Jones People Department representative.

IAPE Board Votes “No” on Organizing

By a count of 10 to 6, with one abstention, the IAPE Board of Directors has voted to reject a resolution to organize workers outside of Dow Jones.

The proposal first presented during the Sept. 21 meeting of the union’s governing board was tabled during that discussion, with an agreement to revisit the resolution during the next regular Board meeting.

As the resolution was being debated, proponents cited recent layoffs at Dow Jones and a declining membership as reasons to expand IAPE representation. Directors opposed to the proposal expressed concerns about representing workers who may have more interest in promoting political or social causes than current union-represented journalists.

With its vote, the IAPE Board preserved the union’s status as the only large Local within The NewsGuild—and one of very few overall—to represent workers at only one employer, and under a single contract.