IAPE Board Approves Strike Vote

The Board of Directors of the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (IAPE), Local 1096 of The NewsGuild-CWA, today authorized a strike vote to be conducted by its members working at Dow Jones & Company.

The member referendum will be the first such vote in the union’s 87-year history.

“Today, the IAPE Board of Directors responded to a call for action,” said Local 1096 President, Jodi Green. “That call came from our members, who have expressed their displeasure with Dow Jones management’s contract proposals. Our members demand stronger collective action to protest the company’s contract offer.”

IAPE, which represents more than 1,400 employees at Dow Jones locations across the United States and Canada—including newsroom, technology, sales and administration staff at The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Factiva and other Dow Jones products—has been locked in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement since June 13, 2023.

The contract between the union and the company expired on April 1, 2024 following a series of negotiated extensions.

Under the union’s Bylaws, IAPE Board authorization to call a membership strike vote is the first step in a three-stage process before members are permitted to walk off the job. A majority of IAPE members must vote in favor of strike action, and the Executive Board of CWA must approve a strike against Dow Jones.

The union intends to schedule a secret-ballot membership vote as quickly as possible. In the meantime, contract negotiations between IAPE representatives and Dow Jones management will continue.

IAPE is seeking significant wage increases retroactive to July 1, 2023, a strict cap on increases to monthly healthcare premiums and better job security protections—including against advances in artificial intelligence—as well as derivative rights for any employee aiming to license material they created as the basis for a book, film, television series, podcast, or other similar publication.

Dow Jones has proposed annual pay raises at sub-inflation rates and the flexibility to increase healthcare premiums for employees with dependents by as much as 30%. Management has rejected all other remaining union proposals.

If approved by IAPE members, a Dow Jones walkout would be the 29th strike in 2024 by The NewsGuild-CWA unions.