Bargaining Update: Talking About Our Proposals

IAPE negotiators resumed discussions with Dow Jones counterparts yesterday and took the opportunity to address company comments about the union’s proposals.

The IAPE team emphasized the importance of the union’s carefully crafted proposals, citing membership survey results showing demands for real wage increases and protection against inflation as overwhelming contract priorities.

The union also responded to the company’s opening proposals yesterday. Addressing management’s proposal to delete cost of living allowance protections from the contract, IAPE President Jodi Green said, “In IAPE surveys, improving COLA protection was the number two priority for members. I can’t see how deleting COLA protection would pass a membership vote.”

IAPE also informed Dow Jones that members are not interested in health insurance premium, deductible or cost-sharing increases that could significantly diminish any negotiated increases in wages.

Dow Jones balked at union proposals to establish employee intellectual property rights. Green noted that union members have concerns about “new revenue streams and the company’s use of content they provided, and that they aren’t seeing sufficient reward for what might even be extra work.”

The response from Dow Jones was swift: “That’s the company’s property. The employee did not provide that, the company created it. The company owns it. It’s not the property of the employee to give to the company. It’s the company’s property.”

Discussions around non-economic items also caused tension around the virtual contract table. Dow Jones reps again objected to an IAPE proposal to clarify the current practice of delivering data reports to the union, claiming to fear union charges at the National Labor Relations Board if the company failed to deliver a timely report of newly hired employees.

The company strenuously objected to IAPE’s proposal to reduce probation—that initial period of time when the contract’s just cause protections do not apply to a new employee—from nine months to six months.

Responding to an IAPE complaint that the company fails to properly notify new employees of their probationary status, one Dow Jones rep said, “what would you have done differently if you knew you were probationary, you would have worked harder? You would have tried to get to that nine months before slacking off?”

There were some attempts to find compromise. Dow Jones has expressed a willingness to increase retraining allowance sums—education funding available to employees when they are laid off from their Dow Jones jobs—and both sides agreed that more discussion is needed on IAPE and Dow Jones proposals for providing employees with advance notice of disciplinary meetings.

IAPE and Dow Jones did have constructive conversations about some company proposals. Dow Jones clarified its proposal to restrict pay increase eligibility to “only employees on active payroll” applies to former employees, perhaps those recently laid off from Dow Jones, and not to anyone on an authorized leave of absence such as disability or parental leave. The union also committed to taking a closer look at other company proposals concerning payout of unused vacation upon separation from Dow Jones and self evaluations for performance reviews.

Dow Jones and IAPE meet again on June 27.

Thanks to all members who sent in feedback after reading yesterday’s bargaining update. If you would like to share your comments about these negotiations—or if you have a message for the company you would like IAPE to share at the bargaining table—our email inbox is always open. Send your questions, comments or concerns to union@iape1096.org.