IAPE Contract Trivia

Read your contract and win a prize!

See below for healthcare survey results!

Our first trick question of the year! Congratulations to San Francisco member Marc Hawthorne, this week’s winner of our 2023 trivia contest and a $50 prize. Marc’s entry was chosen from just a handful of correct responses to last week’s question: the maximum number of weeks’ worth of severance the company is required to pay when a position is eliminated is 56—that’s a total of 52 weeks’ wages for IAPE-represented employees with at least 24 years of continuous service, plus an additional four weeks’ pay in the event a position is eliminated due to outsourcing (see Article VII -- Severance Pay, Section A.2).

Monday is a holiday for IAPE-represented employees, President’s Day here in the United States and Family Day for our members working in the Canadian province of Ontario. We’re sure everyone is looking forward to the long weekend—unless you have been assigned a work shift on Monday. (If you have, file for your Holiday Pay!)

Thinking about holidays, this week we want to know:

How many specific holidays are recognized by the IAPE/DJ contract?

Think you know the answer? Email union@iape1096.org and let us know. Not sure? Scroll through our contract posted on the IAPE website to find the answer. Members in good standing* will have one week to find the answer within the current collective agreement between IAPE and Dow Jones, and email that answer back to us. Next Friday, one winner will be selected at random from all the correct responses, and that winning member will receive a $50 gift card from IAPE.

Health Care Survey Results
Thanks to all who completed last week’s survey on Dow Jones health care coverage. The responses have been compiled and answers are similar to those from surveys in previous contract years: POS II is still the most popular coverage option, selected by 67.8% of respondents. Uncovered costs, network of providers and plan premiums are still the top three factors for members when selecting health care coverage. And the IAPE fitness reimbursement benefit is still the overwhelming choice—by 90.1% of members—compared to the Virgin Pulse data collection and fitness plan offered to non-union staff at Dow Jones.

Responses to new questions concerning dental and vision coverage were illuminating. 93.5% of members responding to last week’s survey purchase Dow Jones dental coverage and 83.4% opt in to vision benefits. Members are mostly satisfied with dental coverage—57.8%—but only 46.3% of respondents are happy with the company vision plan.

We’ll take a break from surveying over this long weekend, but will be back with new questions over the next few weeks.

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*The IAPE contract trivia question is a weekly contest for members of the IAPE/DJ bargaining unit in the United States and Canada, working under the terms of the collective agreement between Dow Jones & Company Inc. and the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (IAPE) TNG/CWA Local 1096, AFL-CIO,CLC, in effect from July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023. IAPE officers, IAPE directors, IAPE staff, fee-paying non-members and non-members in right-to-work states (or new employees not yet paying dues to IAPE) are not eligible for prizes. Contest period lasts through 11:59 PM Eastern Time each Thursday. On Friday, one winner will be selected from the previous week’s correct answers by a random drawing. Winners are limited to one gift card prize every thirty days.