IAPE’s Letter to The Guild

“Local 1096, the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees representing more than 1,400 employees of Dow Jones & Company, opposes adoption of any position by The NewsGuild or its parent or member unions on the Hamas-Israel war or other public controversies.”

So begins a Nov. 24 letter from the IAPE Board of Directors to the Executive Council of our parent union, The NewsGuild-CWA (TNG). The message was sent after the IAPE Board became aware of the subject matter of a Nov. 21 Guild meeting where the Council was pressured to release a statement urging "the U.S. government to stop funding and supporting Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians."

Semafor highlighted portions of the IAPE letter in a Nov. 26 article.

The IAPE Board is strongly opposed to statements of political advocacy from our parent union, which represents journalists across the United States and Canada, including many who find themselves in harm’s way in conflict zones at this very moment.

The Board felt it necessary to act swiftly against an action that would put TNG in conflict with the standards of conduct applying to employees at Dow Jones and other legitimate news organizations. The governing body of the New York Times Guild has delivered a similar message.

The NewsGuild's Executive Council held a closed-door meeting Tuesday night to discuss the issue but has not announced any action. We will provide an update when we learn more.

IAPE is your union. The NewsGuild is our parent union and is a sector of the Communications Workers of America. Unionized staff at the New York Times belong to a separate local—the NewsGuild of New York—and are divided into two separate bargaining units: the New York Times Guild and the New York Times Tech Guild. The NewsGuild of New York is, like IAPE, a local union within the NewsGuild.