Layoffs, the Day After

Late yesterday, IAPE received a formal notice from Dow Jones of the company’s decision to eliminate 22 union-represented positions via layoff. The effective date for all job cuts is Feb. 10, exactly 30 days after the date of the layoff notice.

The 30-day notice period is a contractual requirement. While many of these affected employees have been asked to cease working immediately, all will still remain on active payroll until their separation dates. Severance pay will be issued in the first pay period after those separations, and extended medical coverage will begin in March.

Severance pay, medical coverage, retraining allowances and outplacement assistance are also negotiated benefits guaranteed by the IAPE contract.

IAPE members are no strangers to position eliminations, as anyone can see from reviewing the union’s records of Dow Jones layoffs. And compared to recent news from other companies, the loss of 22 positions may not seem significant.

Unless you’re one of the 22.

Of the jobs lost yesterday, members ranged from the very-recently-hired to 29-year veterans. Positions were cut from several departments, mostly with assigned working locations of New York or Princeton, but also affecting staff in Chicago and Los Angeles. And while Dow Jones is not required to provide IAPE with details of layoffs affecting non-union staff, we are mindful of media reports suggesting Dow Jones cut between one and two percent of the workforce from its global roster yesterday. Whether those who were impacted by layoffs are IAPE-represented or not, they are our colleagues and our friends, and we are disappointed management has once again chosen to boost its bottom line at the expense of those responsible for Dow Jones’ success.

IAPE is currently reviewing all notices of layoffs for union-represented positions to ensure seniority protections were followed, and to make sure that employees who are eligible to volunteer to resign and receive severance in lieu of their less-senior colleagues are aware of that contractual option.

IAPE is not aware of any additional layoffs to come. If they happen, we’ll be here.