Bargaining Update: All Eyes on the Company

IAPE and Dow Jones representatives met for another contract negotiation session yesterday, and with nearly two-dozen IAPE members joining as observers, the union presented its thirteenth proposal since opening bargaining in June of this year.

IAPE shared new proposals on U.S. health care plan design changes for 2025 and 2026—still considered a confidential subject. The union also modified its proposal to boost cost of living allowance (COLA) protection, calling for a maximum 1.5% adjustment in percentage pay increases when the annual average Consumer Price Index exceeds the negotiated pay raise.

The new union COLA proposal has no impact on current wage proposals from IAPE or Dow Jones, neither of which were changed during yesterday’s bargaining session. IAPE continues to demand pay increases reflective of recent company performance, with annual raise proposals of 10%, 8% and 8% over the term of the next contract. Dow Jones has not budged from its current proposals for 3% pay raises in each year of the next agreement.

The union will be watching for a management response to these new proposals at the next bargaining session, currently scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 7. IAPE members interested in attending this open bargaining session can register by following the link in their email. Join us!

In addition to discussing health care and COLA, IAPE agreed yesterday to a Dow Jones proposal to eliminate extra notice of layoffs due to outsourcing when ten or fewer employees are impacted. Going forward, standard 30-day notice periods will apply.

The union also withdrew a proposal to require comp time when extraordinary amounts of hours are worked during the regular workweek, and a handful of proposals for the Miscellaneous section of the contract.

Guild Releases Report on AI
One important proposal still in the IAPE package calls for restrictions against Dow Jones implementing artificial intelligence that might impact IAPE-represented employees. Yesterday, we learned IAPE’s AI concerns are shared by many of our peer unions within The NewsGuild-CWA.

In a new report from TNG President Jon Schleuss, The Guild provided results of a membership survey of opinions on the advent of AI in our industry, and IAPE members figured prominently in the survey results.

“I think AI will positively AND negatively impact society as a whole,” said one IAPE member in their survey response. “Some parts are going to be horrible, and we don't even know what abuses are possible yet. And lives will be saved, changed and transformed by AI. Did Samuel Slater, who opened the first industrial loom mill in Beverly, MA in 1790, have any idea what the country would look like 100, 200 years later?”

An IAPE-represented reporter offered an industry-specific view: “When other media companies have rolled out AI in place of human reporters, the results have been mediocre to dumb. These reports lack context, background, and the kinds of phrases people actually use, and in some cases have been factually inaccurate as well.”

Thanks to all IAPE members—responsible for more than 18% of survey results from across the entire Guild, second only to participants from the News Guild of New York—for taking part in this survey. Your union hears you!