When will we have a fair Contract?

IAPE and Dow Jones contract teams are scheduled to return to the bargaining table tomorrow morning, Jan. 25 at 10:00 a.m. EST (sign up for open bargaining here!). With the eighth month of bargaining upon us, to say there is some distance between union and company proposals, especially with regard to wages, would be an understatement.

This must be new ground for IAPE and Dow Jones, right? Have negotiations for a new contract ever taken this long?

Well, actually, yes they have. Longer, in fact.

The recent history of contract negotiations at Dow Jones shows relatively brief periods of bargaining for multi-year contracts. In 2019, 2016 and 2010 IAPE reached tentative agreements with the company after approximately five months of meetings in each bargaining cycle. While each of those rounds of negotiations contained its own key issues, none of the items discussed at the bargaining table caused contract talks to truly get bogged down. You have to look back almost two decades to find examples of rancorous, long-term negotiations at Dow Jones.

In 2006-07, the Bancroft family was being wooed by Rupert Murdoch in his bid to purchase the company. Management refused to budge off 2% wage proposals—until they finally did. Union members were concerned about job security under Murdoch management. IAPE even tried to intervene in the sale. It took ten months to negotiate a new contract.

In 2003-04, Dow Jones had a goal: move away from its premium-free healthcare plan and start shifting costs onto employees. It also wanted a wage freeze. There were protests. There were boycotts. There were walkouts. Members overwhelmingly rejected one tentative agreement, sending a new IAPE bargaining team back to the table to get more. It took 15 months, from start to finish, to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

Long-time IAPE members recall those contract battles from the past and know this: the company has little incentive to move off its current proposals for 3% raises and upwards of 30% increases in healthcare premiums. And the union, having twice modified its wage proposal, has absolutely no reason to move further until it sees a good-faith effort by Dow Jones to narrow the wage gap.

The bargaining atmosphere in 2023—and now 2024—seems very similar to those from years ago in many respects. IAPE members are angry again, this time over company proposals for wage increases that lag behind the cost of living and peer agreements. The environment is different, too: many members have been hesitant to get involved.

Member action in the workplace is always more important to a contract struggle than words and papers exchanged at a bargaining table. While the Contract Action Team (CAT) led a successful message-to-Almar campaign in December, only a fraction of IAPE members participated in the ”candygram” activity. Out of an IAPE-represented workforce of over 1,400 employees, 296 grams were created, with several of those filled out by family, friends and colleagues at other media outlets.

This is not meant to discount the extent of our first big mobilizing action this contract cycle. It was a great starting point and generated public support. As IAPE continues negotiations in 2024, the CAT will continue to escalate actions (keep an eye out in February hint hint).

On that note, the CAT is made up of your colleagues and meets weekly to discuss next actions and social media strategy. Like you, these colleagues have busy schedules both in the office and at home but have dedicated time to continue to fight for the collective membership. If you have ideas and would like to support your colleagues, please send an email to union@iape1096.org and inquire about how you can get involved with the CAT. Whether it’s writing copy, creating images, or coordinating actions, the more involvement, the better.

Negotiating a new contract is a process where agreements can be achieved relatively quickly or can take a significant amount of time. At the end of the process, the goal is to achieve the best deal possible for union members. That deal isn’t available yet, but we’re confident that it can be.

It’s going to take more work.