Management Monitoring Badge Swipes

In-Person Attendance Under Review at 1211 AOA

IAPE members in News departments have reported to the union that Wall Street Journal management is monitoring ID badge swipes to track attendance at the company’s 1211 Avenue of the Americas location in New York.

Multiple members have been summoned to meetings with Kate Ortega to discuss their attendance. Ortega has reportedly also met with various bureau chiefs for the purpose of informing managers which employees have not been meeting the three-day-per-week in-office threshold.

The union has contacted representatives of the Dow Jones Legal department for confirmation and an explanation for these one-on-one meetings. The company has confirmed receipt of IAPE’s emailed questions, but has not provided any response.

The company’s latest actions are contrary to the message expressed by management during return to office discussions earlier this year, when management pledged to be flexible with requirements for in-office work. Dow Jones representatives specifically noted that work performed “in the field” by Reporters would be counted as equivalent to in-office work.

During a town hall meeting in May, Matt Murray and Karen Pensiero assured staffers that managers would not be tracking attendance by “keeping a clipboard.”

Responding to a submitted question, Pensiero said, “someone else had asked whether or how this is going to be policed and tracked. Card swipes, attendance sheets, I don't know. That's not the newsroom that I work in.”

It seems that may have changed.

IAPE will continue to press Dow Jones for explanations and whether it intends to monitor employee attendance in other departments or locations. In the meantime, if you feel you have been unfairly summoned to a meeting to discuss your in-office attendance, please let us know.

CDC and NYC Mask Recommendations

Whether you’re attending holiday events at the office or with family and friends, this season can bring you into contact with many people. Unfortunately, it is also a time of high exposure to illnesses such as Covid, RSV and the flu.

IAPE believes it is important for our members to be aware of the numbers, so that you can make choices to protect yourselves and others around you.

CDC’s Covid-19 Community Levels have again reached “high” in New York City’s five boroughs, as well as in New York and New Jersey’s Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Bergen and Passaic counties. At this alert level, the CDC recommends “high-quality (e.g., N95)” masks or respirators, and advises people who are high risk to “consider avoiding non-essential indoor activities in public where you could be exposed.”

The New York City Health Department also issued its own advisory last week urging “high-quality” (KN95, KF94 or N95) masks indoors and in crowded outdoor settings due to high levels of Covid-19, flu, and RSV. Additionally, the department recommends that people get vaccinated for Covid-19 and flu, using the bivalent Covid vaccine booster when eligible. The city also advises testing for Covid before and after gatherings, to wear a mask around those who are at risk, and to stay home if you are sick.

We know this data is out in the world, but we feel it’s particularly important to note—a significant number of IAPE members are themselves immunocompromised or otherwise at risk for serious illness or complications from Covid, or they live with or care for at-risk people.

While Dow Jones policy requires employees to stay home if they feel ill, we are also reaching out to ask you to consider wearing a mask in the office not just for your own protection, but as an act of care for your colleagues and their loved ones during this holiday season. After all, no one wants to miss out on Aunt Jodi’s famous eggnog for a third year.

Support our Striking Siblings

IAPE’s NewsGuild siblings at The New York Times are taking strike action and walking off the job for 24 hours on Thursday. Here's why. Our parent union, The NewsGuild, is organizing a Solidarity Rally and inviting Guild folks across the country to gather on Zoom for a half-hour to join and meet the New York Times Strikers and get an update from the picket line. It’s time to show the Guild at its best—supporting each other!

If you have a few minutes to spare tomorrow afternoon, please join us:

New York Times Solidarity Rally
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022 - 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EST
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/94845238764?pwd=dXFDUG92cm4wallPMVlwWDFHbGhWdz09
Meeting ID: 948 4523 8764
Passcode: 419411

If you’re in Manhattan, and you just happen to be near the New York Times building tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., you’re cordially invited to gather at 620 8th Avenue for an in-person rally. Members are encouraged to wear red to support Guild strikers. See the following graphic for details (and please continue to scroll for news about TNG members on strike in Pittsburgh).

Announcing Pittsburgh Strike Santa
The NewsGuild is proud to announce a holiday season initiative that they have launched to support the striking workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the first NewsGuild workers to go out on indefinite strike in 21 years.

Fellow union members and community supporters can show solidarity with the Pittsburgh strikers by participating in Strike Santa, a Guild-coordinated gift registry where striking workers can submit requests for holiday gifts for themselves and their families, and their adoring supporters can purchase them!

Please visit www.zola.com/registry/pittstrikesanta to see the range of gifts already requested. More will be added as members decide what they’d like to request.

If you are able, join us in participating by purchasing a gift!

IAPE Files Vision Plan Grievance

IAPE has filed a grievance against Dow Jones claiming the company has violated the collective agreement by planning to provide more generous vision plan benefits to non-union employees in 2023.

On Oct. 25, in an email to all employees, Chief People Officer Diane DeSevo announced vision plan benefit enhancements for next year, with an increase to $150 in coverage for new eyeglass frames. “IAPE members will retain the same Vision program from 2022,” Ms. DeSevo said.

The 2022 plan provides only $110 in coverage for frames.

Responding to an inquiry from the union, company officials confirmed the vision plan enhancement will only apply to non-union personnel. The company justified its position by pointing to the new contract negotiated in August, and ratified by IAPE members on Sept. 9, and the agreement between Dow Jones and IAPE to keep healthcare premium rates unchanged for 2023.

The new vision plan would require a price hike from $1.40 to $1.72 per pay period for employee-only coverage. Employee-plus-spouse coverage would increase from $2.81 to $3.85 per pay period, employee-plus-child(ren) from $4.21 to $5.18 and employee-plus-family from $5.92 to $6.91.

The union, on the other hand, believes Article XII of the contract is quite clear: “Except as expressly provided by this Agreement, the plans applicable to bargaining unit Employees will be the same plans applicable to non-union corporate employees of the Company generally in the US or Canada.” The contract also requires the company to provide sixty days’ advance notice wherever possible when material changes to benefits are considered. Dow Jones failed to provide any notice to the union in this instance.

The union filing will be presented on Thursday at the next meeting of the joint IAPE and Dow Jones Grievance Committee. The company will have an opportunity to respond to union claims, and reply to IAPE information requests, at that time.

Vacation Time: Use it or . . . Sell it?
It’s the last month of the year, which means members in many departments are scrambling to use remaining vacation days before they expire on Dec. 31. As Article IX of the contract reminds us, “Vacation time may not be carried forward into a new calendar year unless required by local law or as provided in the Company’s published vacation policy or employee handbook.”

The Dow Jones Employee Handbook states, “Generally, vacation carryover is not permitted. However, extraordinary business circumstances may prevent you from using all your vacation days before the end of the year. In this case, you may carry over vacation time, up to a maximum of five (5) days, into the next calendar year with your immediate manager and People Team Business Partner or Generalist’s advanced written approval. Carryover vacation must be taken by March 31st of the following year.”

And, of course, members in California may save vacation time from year to year, subject to the contract’s “California Cap” of up to 175% of any annual allotment of time.

But did you know that, for some of you, there’s an option to sell unused vacation time? Article IX also states, “An Employee who is entitled to at least three weeks of vacation and whose compensation is $1,250 per week or less will be granted one week's pay in lieu of one week's vacation at the request of the Employee.”

So, if you’re paid $65,000 or less per year and you have vacation time you’re not able to use, think about selling it back to the company. Contact your HR representative to request the sale of your time. It’s your money!

New York Times Strike Solidarity
IAPE’s NewsGuild siblings at The New York Times are taking strike action and walking off the job for 24 hours on Thursday. Here's why. Our parent union, The NewsGuild, is organizing a Solidarity Rally and inviting Guild folks across the country to gather on Zoom for a half-hour to join and meet the NYT Strikers and get an update from the picket line. It’s time to show the Guild at its best—supporting each other!

If you have a few minutes to spare on Thursday afternoon, please join us:

New York Times Solidarity Rally
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022 - 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EST
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/94845238764?pwd=dXFDUG92cm4wallPMVlwWDFHbGhWdz09
Meeting ID: 948 4523 8764
Passcode: 419411

Contract 101 - It’s Your Money!

If you have a half-hour to spare tomorrow afternoon, join us at 2:00 p.m. EST for the next presentation of IAPE Contract 101. We will explain all forms of “extra” compensation contained in our collective agreement: standby pay, shift differential, holiday pay, overtime and– the form of compensation we probably receive more questions about than any other, comp time.

Comp time is payable to any employee with a title considered overtime-exempt—including Reporters, Special Writers and Senior Special Writers—when work is assigned and performed on scheduled days off (like weekend coverage!).

See our overtime and comp time advisories on the IAPE website for details, and register to attend Contract 101 to learn more!

Fitness Reimbursement Deadline Tomorrow
Don’t forget: the deadline for IAPE-represented employees to submit physical fitness expenses for 2022 is Nov. 30. As a union-represented employee, you can be reimbursed for up to $600 of the employee-only costs of physical fitness activities and memberships ranging from health club memberships and personal trainers to entry fees for road races and tennis court fees.  Worth noting, home gym equipment is not eligible for reimbursement.

Expenses must be submitted to WageWorks by Nov. 30 in order to be reimbursed by the end of the calendar year. Any expenses submitted after Nov. 30 will count toward the maximum benefit payable for 2023.

Beginning in 2023, the annual reimbursement limit increases to $700.

You may file for reimbursement by logging into www.wageworks.com and submitting your request or by completing a reimbursement request form, available on the HR Hub.

UPDATE:

Dependent Care Expenses Deadline
Nov. 30 is also the deadline to submit 2022 expenses for our back-up childcare or elder care benefits.

The back-up care program reimburses up to $700 annually for qualified expenses when a regular care provider is unavailable. These expenses must be necessary for an employee (and their spouse, if applicable) to work on the day when their regular care provider is not available.

All full-time and regular part-time Dow Jones employees are eligible to participate in the back-up care program.

Expenses must be submitted by Nov. 30 to be applied to the current year annual maximum. Any submissions received after Nov. 30 are not guaranteed to be processed towards the current year annual maximum and may be applied towards the following year annual maximum.

Thanksgiving!

The officers, directors and staff of IAPE extend our very best wishes for a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! The IAPE office will close early today and staff will be offline tomorrow and Friday.

For IAPE-represented employees in the United States, if you are not scheduled to work tomorrow, please enjoy your holiday. But if you are required to work on Thursday, please keep the following in mind: Article VIII of the collective agreement between IAPE and Dow Jones gives you the option to claim additional pay for that work.

The IAPE/DJ agreement requires Holiday Pay at a rate of time-and-one-half for all regular hours worked on a holiday (double-time for extra hours) plus an additional day off in lieu of the holiday or an additional day’s pay.

The agreement gives IAPE-represented employees the right to choose between the additional pay or an additional day off for all holidays worked after July 3rd in any calendar year. If you are assigned to work on Thanksgiving Day and you prefer to receive extra pay instead of an additional day off, please inform your manager.

You may file for your Holiday Pay through Workday. If you have any questions about pay for working on a holiday or receiving your extra day’s pay or day off (again, your choice), please contact the IAPE office at union@iape1096.org.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Strikesgiving!
While IAPE members are working under a recently-ratified one-year contract at Dow Jones, many of our NewsGuild siblings are in the midst of difficult negotiations with their employers, and some have been forced to withhold their labor to force management to negotiate in good faith.

On Nov. 4, Guild members at Reuters voted in favor of authorizing their bargaining committee to call a strike if their employer continues bargaining in bad faith. Thus far, members continue to work as negotiations continue. Members of the Fort Worth NewsGuild are raising funds in the event they need to take strike action against the Star Telegram. And in Pittsburgh, where Guild members have been on strike since Oct. 18 protesting unfair labor practices committed by management of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the union has launched its own strike publication, Pittsburgh Union Progress.

On Monday, the IAPE Board of Directors authorized a $1,500 contribution to the Pittsburgh Striker Fund, used exclusively to assist striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette families with special needs who are facing very difficult financial circumstances. IAPE members may donate to the fund by visiting unionprogress.com/donate, and are encouraged to subscribe to the Union Progress!

Some IAPE members have asked about the nearly two-week old strike at HarperCollins. While the HarperCollins Union is not part of the same international union as IAPE—they are a local union of the United Auto Workers—we still support our corporate colleagues as they fight for a fair contract settlement. If you’re not already following the Harper Union on Twitter, you can find a thread on tips for supporting unionized staff here.

Thanks for Supporting our Photo Editors

National Labor Relations Board hearings into IAPE’s petition to represent WSJ Photo Editors have concluded. The union and the company must submit post-hearing briefs by Dec. 2, and then we’ll wait for the NLRB to issue a ruling on whether Photo Editors can hold an election for IAPE representation.

IAPE leadership and WSJ Photo Editors would like to thank all members who joined the video stream of this week’s hearings, and we would like to send a HUGE thank you to all who took the time to send an email urging WSJ management to recognize Photo Editors as union-eligible employees. If you haven’t yet, please sign and send today. At this moment, almost 1,000 letters have been delivered!

Fitness Reimbursement Deadline Nov. 30
Yesterday’s monthly benefits newsletter from News Corp contained lots of useful information about health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and other employee benefits, with reminders to submit expenses before annual deadlines arrive. Noticeably absent from yesterday’s email was any reminder for IAPE-represented employees to submit physical fitness expenses before Nov. 30.

As a union-represented employee, you can be reimbursed for up to $600 of the employee-only costs of physical fitness activities and memberships ranging from health club memberships and personal trainers to entry fees for road races and tennis court fees. Beginning in 2023, that annual reimbursement limit increases to $700.

Expenses must be submitted to WageWorks by Nov. 30 in order to be reimbursed by the end of the calendar year. Any expenses submitted after Nov. 30 will count toward the maximum benefit payable for 2023.

You may file for reimbursement by logging into www.wageworks.com and submitting your request or by completing a reimbursement request form, available on the HR Hub.

Let’s Talk About Comp Time
Join us on Nov. 30 for the next presentation of IAPE Contract 101, when we will explain all forms of “extra” compensation contained in our collective agreement: standby pay, shift differential, holiday pay, overtime and the form of compensation we probably receive more questions about than any other, comp time.

Comp time is payable to any employee with a title considered overtime-exempt—including Reporters, Special Writers and Senior Special Writers—when work is assigned and performed on scheduled days off.

A special shout out to US News staff assigned to occasional weekend duty: if you’re required to perform work on Saturdays or Sundays, you’re entitled to receive comp time!

See our overtime and comp time advisories on the IAPE website for details, and register to attend Contract 101 to learn more!

NLRB Hearing Tomorrow - Send a Letter to Management!

IAPE and WSJ Photo Editors return to the National Labor Relations Board tomorrow to resume hearings into the union’s petition to have Photo Editors recognized as non-management, union-represented employees. Hearings will likely continue through Thursday and will begin each day at 9:30 a.m. EST, likely ending around 5:00 p.m. EST.

Observers are welcome—if you have signed up to watch the hearing, you should have received a Google Calendar invite for all three days and you can observe via the Google Meet link in that invitation. Pop in any time each day! If you haven't signed up, you still can via this link: https://bit.ly/WSJphotoHearingObservers

Whether you’re able to join or not, you can still demonstrate your support for Photo Editors, and there’s no better way to start the week than by sending an email to WSJ Management! It only takes a few minutes (we've got the message started for you). Click here to send your email!

And finally, we would love for members to change their work and social media avatars this week to show solidarity! You can download the avatar here.

You can also follow the Photo Editors website, Twitter, and Instagram—we would love your amplification (tag @WSJ!) and your memes!

Thank you all for your support! We wouldn't be able to do this without you!

Support our Photo Editors . . . Again!

WSJ Photo Editors and IAPE representatives return to the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, Nov. 15. After a three-week break in proceedings, the Manhattan region of the NLRB will resume hearings into the union’s petition to represent Photo Editors and hear objections from Dow Jones management.

These hearings are open to the public, and we would again love to have as many IAPE members as possible join to support our Photo Editor colleagues. If you are able to join, even for just a couple of hours, please register through this form: https://tinyurl.com/WSJPhotoEdObserverForm. We’ll follow up and deliver meeting links as soon as they are available.

Remember also to download a Solidarity Avatar, and make it your Google profile photo in advance of the hearing. And as Photo Editors tweet and post on Instagram, please amplify their social posts—or share your own! We want to make sure everyone knows that Photo Editors are workers who should be protected by the union and that their work is necessary to the Journal!

Join us for Steward 101
With a little more than eight months remaining in our current contract term, IAPE is looking to bolster its steward ranks ahead of 2023 negotiations. Union stewards can be IAPE’s eyes and ears in a department, sharing union and workplace information with members or with IAPE’s elected representatives and staff. A steward might help organize union events and activities or participate in committee planning. Stewards even assist other members during meetings with management and Human Resources!

If you’re interested in becoming an IAPE steward, we invite you to join us Wednesday afternoon, at 2:00 p.m. EST, for our Steward 101 class. This half-hour Zoom presentation is a great way for union members to learn more about the next level of IAPE participation.

Register on the IAPE Events page. Interested in becoming a steward, but you aren’t available to attend this week’s class? Contact the IAPE office for some individual Q&A!

Scholarship Opportunities
IAPE’s parent union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), is pleased to announce the CWA Joe Beirne Foundation has approved the awarding of 16 partial college scholarships of $4,000 each. CWA members and their spouses, children, and grandchildren, including those of retired or deceased members are eligible for the scholarship. The deadline to apply is April 30, 2023. Visit the CWA website to apply.

The Beirne scholarship program is made possible by funding from CWA locals. Read more about the program here.

IAPE members and families are also eligible to apply for Union Plus scholarships. Amounts range from $500 to $4,000. These one-time cash awards are for study beginning in the Fall of 2023. Students may reapply each year.

Open Enrollment: When Pilot Points in the Wrong Direction

It’s time for Dow Jones employees in the United States to select healthcare coverage for 2023. With three plan tiers to choose from—Choice POS II, Basic Choice and CDHP—there is plenty of information to consider. So, the “decision support tool” known as “Pilot” offered on the company’s benefits websites is a great resource to help you make the right selection.

Or is it?

Year after year, IAPE members have complained that no matter the information they enter into Pilot, the system always selects the high deductible CDHP plan as the primary option. Go ahead, try it for yourself—change your preferences, the number of times you expect to see a physician in a year, upcoming surgeries, medications you take. We’ll bet Pilot chooses the CDHP plan for you, too.

Why is this a problem? IAPE members have also complained about inadequate coverage and higher-than-expected bills after selecting the CDHP plan. Unfortunately, by the time these concerns are realized, it is usually too late to switch to a more appropriate coverage level. When you select your annual coverage, you’re locked in for the benefit year!

So, take it from us and your colleagues who have been burned by Pilot in the past. Review available plan information including physician networks, deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket payments. Don’t use an auto pilot to land on the coverage you need for 2023.

Support for Pittsburgh Strikers!
In case you missed our email invitation on Monday, all IAPE members are encouraged to attend “What’s it like to be on Strike?” a Zoom support call for striking Guild members at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Where: on Zoom, RSVP: bit.ly/pittsburgh-on-strike

When: Thursday, Nov. 3 from 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT

What does it mean to go on strike? How do you prepare to walk off the job? What do you actually do day-to-day on the picket line? Join us to hear directly from our union siblings at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, who are on an Unfair Labor Practice strike right now against one of the most notoriously anti-union publishers in the country. These workers have been denied raises for 14 years, saw their healthcare benefits slashed, and have been at the bargaining table since 2017 with no end in sight.

The Block family, which owns the Gazette, is refusing to bargain in good faith and has created a hostile work environment forcing long-time journalists to leave the company. We know they have the money—they're spending millions on a union-busting firm instead of paying their employees fair wages.

The Pittsburgh Guild’s fight is our fight, and we stand with them. Their strike represents the first prolonged strike in the NewsGuild in decades, and as media owners become more and more shamelessly aggressive in their efforts to quash workers’ rights, the PGH Guild's fight is increasingly relevant for our own units here in New York. At the end of the event, we'll take a zoom photo together to demonstrate our solidarity with the striking members of the PGH Guild.

Register to attend!