Bargaining Update: “You Asked For It”
/Contract Gains Overshadowed by Company’s First Wage Proposal
First T-shirt Day Thursday! Spread the word!
During a contract negotiation session on Tuesday, Dow Jones presented a new document to the union containing responses to IAPE offers, proposals on certain benefits issues and—56 days after the beginning of 2023 contract talks—its first wage proposal of this round of bargaining.
“You asked for it,” Dow Jones negotiators told union reps, “now you’re going to get it.”
It wasn’t worth the wait. The proposal: a 2023 “general compensatory increase” of 3.0%.
The proposed increase in year one of the contract—the company listed years two and three as “to be negotiated”—falls short of the union’s opening demand of 15% in 2023, a proposal Dow Jones negotiators have repeatedly claimed to be at odds with reality.
“We don’t see this as a real wage proposal,” company reps told the union.
We could say the same about a company wage proposal that represents a cut in real wages.
IAPE T-shirt Day Thursday, Aug. 10
We’re sure you are disappointed with the company’s initial wage proposal, and so we are calling for IAPE members everywhere to take part in our first IAPE T-shirt day tomorrow, coinciding with the release of News Corp’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report after the market close.
Grab an IAPE t-shirt—if you don’t have one, any red or black tee will do—and gather with your colleagues for a display of IAPE solidarity. If you’re working remotely on Thursday, you absolutely can still participate.
We would love to see (and share!) photos of your IAPE activity—send your favorite t-shirt shots to union@iape1096.org and we’ll let all our social media followers know we are #IAPEStrong and opposed to sub-par pay rates.
If you need an IAPE shirt for future t-shirt days—and we expect to have these often—let us know what size you wear. We’ll check our current supply and see what we can send to you.
Back to yesterday’s bargaining session…
Dow Jones also provided a comprehensive health insurance proposal calling for increases in insurance premium percentages, as well as new maximum rates in plan design for 2025 and 2026—elements including coinsurance, deductibles, prescription coverage and maximum out-of-pocket amounts. The union has agreed to keep details of those proposals confidential while negotiations continue.
The company also proposed increasing the minimum pay increase threshold from $1,000 to $1,300 per week. To do so would mean that, with a 3.0% raise, any employee currently earning less than $1,300 weekly would receive a pay hike of no less than $39 per week, or $78 per pay period. A negotiated 4.0% raise would result in a minimum weekly increase of $52; a 5.0% raise would produce a minimum weekly increase of $65, and so on.
There were some productive moments during yesterday’s session. In two very important gains for the union, Dow Jones agreed to eliminate the parental leave distinction between primary and secondary caregivers, meaning all employees would be eligible for 20 weeks of paid leave regardless of their caregiver status.
Dow Jones also agreed to a union proposal to cover out-of-network mental health providers at the same coinsurance percentages as in-network providers, subject to any Aetna differences in reasonable and customary coverage for in- and out-of-network providers (and other plan terms).
Responding to a union proposal for the addition of non-familial funeral days off, the company agreed to modify bereavement leave to provide up to five days of leave per death, applicable for the passing of any family member or friend.
Offering a counter to an IAPE proposal for coverage of doula services, management asked IAPE to consider the addition of services as a covered benefit beginning in 2025. However, since doula services are not considered “medically necessary,” reimbursement would need to be processed through Dow Jones Payroll, which would require employees to disclose the fact that they are using doula services. This reimbursement would also be taxable.
Dow Jones rejected—or continued to reject—a number of IAPE proposals, including:
Expanding an employee’s choice to receive a day’s pay instead of an additional day off after working on a holiday to all holidays, rather than the current agreement of holidays after July 3
The addition of a sixth week of paid vacation
Expanding payment for unused vacation days upon termination
Carryover of vacation time into a new calendar year for employees in all states and provinces
Increases to 401(k) plan contributions
Comp time for excessive work on a regular working day
Elimination of a probation period for temporary workers retained as staff employees
Dow Jones and IAPE negotiators will resume talks on Thursday, but with a focus on job classification and pay scale proposals. IAPE expects to respond to yesterday’s Dow Jones proposal next Tuesday. Aug. 15.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, comments or complaints about the latest proposal from management, send your thoughts to union@iape1096.org.