Bargaining Update: Let’s Be Honest

Negotiations between IAPE and Dow Jones continued Thursday morning and opened with a bang as management reacted to the union's latest proposal.

Objecting to union claims the company’s April 11 proposal would actually pay members less than a proposal offered March 21 (it would), management representatives complained that IAPE is not being “intellectually honest” with characterizations of company proposals.

Intellectually honest. That’s an interesting choice of words. Let’s consider what IAPE members have experienced over the past several months.

For quarter after quarter after quarter after quarter after quarter after quarter after quarter (we could go on), IAPE members have heard company officials tout record Dow Jones revenues, EBITDA and profit margins. CEO Almar Latour has credited staff for “strong business results . . . not possible without your hard work and commitment to our mission.”

And yet, instead of being rewarded for their contributions to the company’s bottom line, IAPE members have seen real wages decline thanks to the cost of living. Members work every day under the cloud of a constant threat of layoffs. The frequency of disciplinary meetings has increased, particularly in News departments. Morale has tanked.

As one member said to an IAPE Director, referring to WSJ management, “I hope they know what they are breaking.”

Meanwhile, for 310 days (and counting), IAPE negotiators have repeatedly told their company counterparts: members deserve real pay increases, retroactive to July 1, 2023, with affordable healthcare. That message was repeated in the latest IAPE proposal document: “The union continues to insist on retroactivity and real pay increases reflecting company performance, market rates and increases to the cost of living.”

So let’s be honest about the company's proposals: for management to propose that its first wage increase under our next contract must be effective only upon ratification, and not retroactive, is tantamount to a ten-month (or longer) wage freeze. IAPE has accepted wage freezes before, when the news business was in a generally dismal condition. This is not 2010.

Dow Jones negotiators are sure to say their proposal is not a wage freeze. And it is true, the company has proposed a combined Year 1 and 2 raise of 7.00%. That combination proposal with a $1,500 lump sum payment as a substitute for retroactive pay still lags behind what Guild peers at The New York Times received last year, and still falls well short of returning member wages to pre-2019 levels, when adjusted for inflation.

To be honest, this company can do better.

What Else Did We Talk About?
During Thursday’s bargaining session, IAPE made other claims the company is sure to take issue with. Just so everyone is on the same page, here are some other comparisons and data points raised by the union during today’s meeting:

• “The healthcare information you shared . . . confirms for us that the company’s 2023 actual costs are under the projected annual amounts by approximately $2,000 per employee.” From Total Company Cost data provided by Dow Jones Benefits, over multiple years of negotiations.

• “We see . . . a group purchasing healthcare with lower deductibles, lower maximum-out-of-pocket amounts, lower copays and significantly better coinsurance.” Referring to a comparison of 2024 Dow Jones and New York Times health care information.

IAPE also questioned the company’s characterization of union proposals over book leaves and derivative rights as “non-economic items.”

“For the company, we agree, they are,” IAPE rep Tim Martell said. “We do not believe that our proposals in this area will cost the company a dime. But for the relatively few members who are able to pursue external projects, we think clear contract language establishing an employee’s rights to use work they created is necessary.”

Except to complain about the apparent lack of progress made today—despite a key IAPE counter-proposal on introductory scales and an offer to agree to the company’s last proposal regarding the Day After Thanksgiving as a holiday—Dow Jones had no response to today’s union proposals.

Bargaining is scheduled to resume next Thursday, April 25.