IAPE Bulletin 8/24/2020: Nomination Deadline, Holiday Pay

Election 2020: Nomination Deadline in One Week!

If you or a fellow member have been considering running for an IAPE officer or director position, you only have one week left to submit nominations to elections@iape1096.org. All nominations must be received by 10 a.m. ET on Aug. 31 using this form. 

Serving on the IAPE board is a great opportunity to advocate for your colleagues and work to bring positive changes across Dow Jones. You can read more about the nomination process and official guidance on rules around campaigning in the candidate toolkit on the election page of the IAPE website. 

The election committee will declare an eligible candidate who is unopposed at the deadline as winner by acclamation. The committee will post the nominees for contested positions by Sept. 4. Ballots will be mailed out by Oct. 5 and will be due back to the election provider by Nov. 4 to be counted. Official descriptions and duties of the roles can be found in the bylaws. 

A reminder that the election this year will be conducted via mail ballot, so please make sure we have your up-to-date mailing address so we know where to send your ballot in early October. 

IAPE Committees Meet With DJ Thursday

The union’s Grievance, Classification and Labor/Management committees reconvene for regular monthly meetings with Dow Jones representatives this Thursday, Aug. 27. 

In addition to a dispute over the Columnist job title, IAPE is pursuing a grievance against Dow Jones over a warning letter issued to an employee the union believes to be a retaliatory action by his manager and a violation of our contract’s just cause protections. IAPE has also grieved that Dow Jones failed to properly inform employees summoned to investigatory meetings of their right to union representation during those meetings, filed a challenge over misclassifications of a number of employees currently holding non-union titles —including News Editor and Assistant News Editor—but performing work in line with IAPE-represented colleagues, and issued a grievance over the company’s failure to implement Workday updates and automated processes to allow for easier and more accurate filing for comp time, as agreed during 2019 contract negotiations.

The IAPE Classification Committee is pursuing a reclassification request on behalf of a New York employee who believes they are performing work outside of their job title, and the Labor/Management group continues to discuss COVID-related matters, as well as a complaint about News managers in certain departments attempting to assign reporters to “standby” duty (the contract’s standby provisions do not apply to newsroom staff).

If you have a contract concern, a classification question, or believe the union should be challenging something going on in your department, please contact IAPE so we can add your issue to our regular meeting agenda.

Holiday Pay: Labor Day Is Fast Approaching

We’re two weeks away from the last holiday of the summer, Labor Day on Sept. 7. 

Remember: if you’re scheduled to work on the holiday, Article VIII of the IAPE/DJ contract requires that you receive Holiday Pay: time-and-one-half for regular hours worked, double-time for hours in excess of your regular schedule, and the option to receive another day’s pay instead of a comp day for working on Labor Day. Don’t forget to file!

And while we’re on the subject of time off, don’t forget that the company has announced employees can carry over up to 5 days of vacation for this year to use by March 31, 2021, and that Life-Work Leave will be extended through that same date. Employees can now apply for up to 4 hours of leave per day, with a maximum of 10 hours per week.