Bargaining Update: Pay Floor for Reporters

Also, see below for IAPE’s Halloween costume suggestion

The classification subcommittee of IAPE and Dow Jones bargaining teams met yesterday and reached agreement on a handful of items related to introductory pay tiers and scales, including a new minimum pay scale for IAPE-represented employees classified as Reporters.

Upon conclusion of these contract negotiations, the new minimum salary for full-time Reporters will be $72,800, a $9,500 increase over the current minimum. The escalating scale minimum for Reporters with five years of service will also increase from $83,304 to $95,585.

While the new Reporter pay floor is an encouraging tentative agreement, IAPE/DJ introductory pay scales typically do not impact large numbers of employees. Almost 85% of the current roster of union-represented reporters at Dow Jones publications are already paid in excess of the new $95K top minimum rate.

Mindful of this issue with minimum scales, the union had also proposed adjusting pay tiers for 44 IAPE-represented titles. Dow Jones agreed to 33 of those proposals and added two additional titles to the list. Similar to the new Reporter scales, these new pay tier assignments will be implemented upon the conclusion of negotiations and ratification of a new contract.

The majority of current classified titles all have A, B, C and D scale steps. Dow Jones had previously rejected an IAPE proposal to add E and F steps for all positions. Yesterday, the union countered with a proposal to add E and F scales for titles in Customer Service, Finance and Data Strategy.

Union data show that employees in those positions are most likely to be paid according to scale, and that it is uncommon for IAPE-represented staff from those departments to receive merit increases. Introductory pay scale raises typically result in larger percentage increases than other forms of pay hikes negotiated by the union.

Negotiations will resume on Tuesday, Oct. 31. Members who are interested in joining the IAPE bargaining committee and attending Tuesday’s meeting virtually should email union@iape1096.org.

Halloween = T-shirt Tuesday
Yes, the next bargaining session between IAPE and Dow Jones will fall on Halloween. The IAPE Bargaining Committee considered several costume ideas for Tuesday’s meeting, and settled on the option shown in the photo below.

Please join us by donning your own IAPE costume on Tuesday!