Bargaining Update: Let’s See Some Movement

The IAPE Bargaining Committee presented its tenth proposal for a new collective agreement during a contract negotiation session with Dow Jones on Tuesday morning. In its new proposal, the union made a small move on wages—dropping a demand for 2023 raises from 12% to 10%—but held the line on other important issues including health care cost increases.

The message from the IAPE team was simple: at the conclusion of contract negotiations, it should not be more expensive for employees to work for Dow Jones. IAPE bargainers again informed Dow Jones that the company’s wage proposal—3% for each year of a three-year contract—is unacceptable, especially while management is also proposing the ability to increase health insurance premiums for employees with dependents by as much as 28% by the end of the next contract.

The IAPE team also spent time reminding management of other proposals of importance to union members, but which have not yet been seriously addressed by the company. Included among those is a proposal for overtime-exempt employees—like Reporters—to earn comp time when extraordinary amounts of extra work is performed during the regular workweek.

Currently, the CBA only guarantees comp time, which can be exchanged for cash 30 days after it has been earned, for OT-exempt staff when work is assigned and performed on scheduled days off. Dow Jones has informed the union that managers “have discretion” to grant comp time for extra work during the workweek, if employees ask for it.

The union also explained it was withdrawing some proposals to, once again, attempt to narrow the issues between the parties. Gone from the bargaining table are union proposals to adjust wages for employees in Canada to reflect currency exchange rates, “retirement severance” for employees who resign after 20 years of service, granting all employees the ability to carry vacation time into a new calendar year and vesting of company contributions to retirement plans upon conclusion of employee probation periods.

IAPE also withdrew proposals to modify the current Nondiscrimination contract clause, including a requirement for Dow Jones to provide the union with an annual diversity audit, and some miscellaneous proposals.

The company opted not to respond to any IAPE proposals. Negotiations resume Thursday.