Yes, Dow Jones…We Mean Business

Instead of meeting with Dow Jones representatives at the bargaining table yesterday, IAPE members gathered across the country for a “Lunch Out.” Members walked out during their lunch hour and handed out informational flyers explaining exactly why Dow Jones should be paying their employees what they deserve, especially given Wednesday’s earnings report, in which Dow Jones Segment EBITDA grew 8% to $118 million, becoming the “highest third quarter on record.” All areas of Dow Jones showed growth: 

• News Subscriptions grew 12% this quarter - Dow Jones can thank our sales members for that.

• The B2B business increased 10%, with Risk & Compliance being up 15% - Dow Jones can thank our members who work on Factiva, Newswires, Risk & Compliance, Customer Service, Sales, Marketing and many others

• Lastly, Digital advertising was up 4% - Dow Jones can thank more of our sales members for that, as well.

And of course, there are our members at WSJ and those who work behind the scenes in Payroll, Barron’s, the Experience Team, and so many others!

Check out picture below of our members showing their solidarity and strength.

The signs have arrived!

Picket signs with varying messages and sizes arrived today and will soon be heading out to all Dow Jones offices across the country and Canada. Look for a future note about gathering to get these signs ready. We’re ready to show that #WeMeanBusiness!

Bargaining Canceled Tomorrow (Thursday, May 9)!

IAPE members, tomorrow’s contract negotiation meeting between IAPE and Dow Jones has been canceled. We were expecting a counter-proposal to our non-wage proposal given at last week’s bargaining session, but Dow Jones does not have one ready for us. And although they “gave us money” with last week’s .25% increase to 7.25% for 2023-2024 combined–still without retroactive pay–we are still considering our counter, so we agreed to postpone tomorrow’s bargaining session to next week (Thursday 5/16). Members who registered for open bargaining, watch for a new registration link next week.

In the meantime…tomorrow’s lunch-out is still ON! 

We’re even more disappointed to hear that Dow Jones is unprepared to continue bargaining with us tomorrow. All the more reason to join your colleagues tomorrow (Thursday 5/9) in an hour-long lunch out! Let’s take things outside and show Dow Jones we’re willing to turn up the heat.

Wear your red IAPE shirt, bring umbrellas if it’s going to rain by you and come ready to chant!

See below for the details for your office location. We will also have a virtual option at 2pm EDT for remote workers and workers on assignment.

Chicago: 12pm CDT, meet in break room

Princeton: 12pm EDT, meet at coffee bar

New York: 2pm EDT, meet outside office 

D.C.: 2pm EDT, meet in dining room 

San Francisco: 12pm PDT, meet in office, move to park

Los Angeles: 12pm PDT, meet in the kitchen

Virtual: 2pm EDT, join Zoom Link

Here are some sample away messages we encourage you to use during the lunchtime walkout. Customize as you’d like! And be sure to update your avatars.

Sample Slack away message:

Out for lunch #NoGoWithoutRetro 

Sample email automatic replies:

• When you work at Dow Jones, you’re guaranteed a lunch break, but retro pay isn’t a sure thing anymore. We’re walking out for lunch to fight for what we deserve #NoGoWithoutRetro

• Dow Jones employees across the country are walking out for their lunch break because the company refuses to negotiate in good faith about wages and retro pay. We deserve more #NoGoWithoutRetro

WHEN WE FIGHT! WE WIN!

ACTION ALERT THURSDAY 5/9!

We’re Walking Out Thursday…During Lunch

Join your colleagues for an hour-long lunch walkout. We’re disappointed and angry at Dow Jones for stalling on wage increases at the bargaining table and continuing to push healthcare increases on members with dependents. Let’s take things outside for the first time and show Dow Jones we’re willing to turn up the heat if they won’t negotiate in good faith.

Wear your red IAPE shirt, bring umbrellas if it’s going to rain by you and come ready to chant!

See below for the details for your office location. We will also have a virtual option for remote workers and workers on assignment.

Chicago: 12pm CDT, meet in break room

Princeton: 12pm EDT, meet at coffee bar

New York: 2pm EDT, meet outside office 

D.C.: 2pm EDT, meet in dining room 

San Francisco: 12pm PDT, meet in office, move to park

Los Angeles: 12pm PDT – still need a point person to lead! Email us if you’re interested: union@iape1096.org

WHEN WE FIGHT! WE WIN!

REMINDER: Town Hall and Open Bargaining

Join our next Town Hall session tomorrow, May 7th at 4:00 p.m. EDT where union representatives will answer your questions surrounding a strike authorization vote and the ins and outs of striking. We understand that this is uncharted territory for many IAPE members and it is important that we are all on the same page. If you are not sure of something, don’t be afraid to ask. There are probably several other members with the same questions as you.

Sign up for May 7th, here.

Open Bargaining Sign Up

Please join us for open bargaining on Thursday, May 9, scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Please sign up if you are able to attend. Encourage your colleagues to sign up, too!

If you are committing to attend, we will send you a Google Meet invitation closer to the bargaining session. We'll also share a Zoom link for IAPE-only participants during breaks from bargaining.

Bargaining Update: Let’s Hear it for Dianne

We have to hand it to Dow Jones CPO Dianne DeSevo—she knows how to spin a tale.

In case you missed it, DeSevo shared the company’s recap of Thursday’s contract bargaining session.

“Our increased combined wage proposal for years one and two is now 7.25%,” DeSevo wrote late this afternoon in a note to all Dow Jones staff, “with the lower-paid one-third of the IAPE bargaining unit receiving even higher increases, up to 14%.”

She’s right, you know. In fact, 13 IAPE-represented employees would receive pay increases equaling 14.07% under the proposal offered by the company today.

Thirteen.

So, let’s be honest about the big issues that remain on the bargaining table. DeSevo is 100% correct to say “we remain far apart on wages.” But to suggest that the union has ignored “multiple increases” in the company’s wage proposal is disingenuous.

IAPE members are keenly aware that Dow Jones has moved from proposals of 3% for 2023, 3% for 2024 and 3% for 2025, to a proposal today that—when the “combined” years one and two raises are split in two—add 0.625% to those proposals for 2023 and 2024.

And what else are we forgetting . . . oh, right. Still not retroactive.

And DeSevo is right that the IAPE Board of Directors’ decision to authorize a strike vote is “unfortunate,” but not because of “progress the parties have made.” We would argue precisely the opposite.

Look, the proposal document presented by IAPE today speaks for itself. IAPE members are speaking out, too. The company hears us, loud and clear.

Asia Layoffs

The union is sorry to learn that eight reporters from the Hong Kong and Singapore offices have been laid off from the company. With more than 30 years of combined experience and expertise at The Wall Street Journal, they covered China, technology and markets, winning some of journalism’s highest awards.

As WSJ Editor in Chief Emma Tucker noted today, “it is difficult to say goodbye.” But it appears to be getting easier for Dow Jones after laying off dozens of reporters in Washington and overseas and several Sales, Technology and Content Management staff since the beginning of the year. 

We don’t know why News Corp is hellbent on cutting jobs and denying us inflation-adjusted cost-of-living increases at a time of record revenues and subscriptions, but management sure loves talking about everything AI right now. 

Unfortunately, Dow Jones employees are bracing for more likely cuts in the coming weeks – even though Chief Financial Officer Susan Lee Panuccio boasted in February that it was “pleasing” that News Corp was already ahead of its targets for layoff-related cost cuts.

As for employees, we’re a lot less stoked. We’re sad to have lost some great colleagues in Asia – especially since the savings on their salaries wouldn’t even cover four days’ worth of News Corp stock buybacks this week. 

While Dow Jones likes to tout its tiny 0.25% increase in wages (over two years), IAPE members have seen *zero* respect, compassion or empathy from the company for how hard this wage freeze, no back pay and constant fear of layoffs has been on our hard-working employees and their families. #WeDeserveBetter #WeDeserveMore

Let's Lunch!

ACTION REMINDER!

Tomorrow, join your IAPE colleagues for a coordinated one-hour lunch break in the office Thursday, May 2 at 2:00 p.m. EDT/1:00 p.m. CDT/11:00 a.m. PDT.

We will talk more about the IAPE Board's approval for a membership strike vote, the current state of bargaining and how we can escalate to get a better, stronger contract. We deserve a fair contract now!

To participate:

1. Set your Slack/Gmail avatar to an IAPE logo 

2. Wear an IAPE or red T-shirt and join your colleagues in the office that day! 

3. Take the coordinated one-hour break in your office’s designated area, or join remotely via Zoom!

Remote workers - see your email for a Zoom link.

New York - 3rd Floor Cafeteria

Chicago - Central Break Room

Los Angeles - Kitchen Area

Princeton - Building 1 Cafeteria

San Francisco - Kitchen on 11

Washington - Dining Room

TOWN HALLS
Join our next Town Hall sessions on May 6th at 12:00 p.m. EDT and May 7th at 4:00 p.m. EDT to hear from IAPE leadership and CAT members on bargaining and escalation.

Sign up for May 6th, here.

Sign up for May 7th, here.

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.

ACTION ALERT

The company has still not meaningfully engaged in bargaining and is withholding full back pay for our members. Let’s show them how serious we are.

Join your IAPE colleagues for a coordinated 1-hour lunch break in the office Thursday, May 2 at 2:00 p.m. EDT/1:00 p.m. CDT/11:00 a.m. PDT. We’ll be decorating picket signs and preparing for future escalations.

We will also talk more about bargaining and how we can escalate to get a better, stronger contract. We deserve a fair contract now.

To participate:

1. Set your Slack/Gmail avatar to an IAPE logo 

2. Wear an IAPE or red T-shirt and join your colleagues in the office that day! 

3. Take the coordinated one-hour break in your office’s designated area, or join remotely via Zoom!

In-person meet-up spots will be sent out via email for each office soon!

For remote folks or those on assignment, you can join a virtual lunch-in with your colleagues! Sign up for the Zoom link, here.

TOWN HALLS
Join our next Town Hall sessions on May 6th at 12:00 p.m. EDT and May 7th at 4:00 p.m. EDT to hear from IAPE leadership and CAT members on bargaining and escalation.

Sign up for May 6th, here.

Sign up for May 7th, here.

Bargaining Update: Dow Jones & Company . . . Limited

IAPE membership is “a powder keg,” likely to be disappointed (again) by company offer

During a contract bargaining meeting Thursday, Dow Jones negotiators described a new company offer as a “limited” proposal, and it was, in so many ways.

Dow Jones proposal number 18 contained three small moves: a proposal to adjust minimum pay scales by 3.75%—an increase from the company’s previous offer of 3.5%—upon ratification of the contract, an offer to limit health insurance premium increases for members in Canada to the same percentage as the increase in company costs, and a $500 increase in the company’s proposal for a lump sum payable upon ratification of a new deal.

“Any open union proposals not specifically addressed here are rejected,” reads the top line in the new Dow Jones document.

IAPE’s bargaining team noted that the per-employee proposal of $2,000—which management has characterized as a replacement for retroactive pay—is the equivalent of 2% of pay at the median salary for union-represented staff.

Management would not elaborate on why it refuses to present a proposal containing retroactive pay increases—not to mention percentage raises reflecting the cost of living, company performance and market rates. Instead, management representatives opted to criticize the union for a “slow crawl” in union compensation proposals.

IAPE opened negotiations on June 13, 2023—50 meetings ago—with a proposal to immediately increase wages by 15%. The union’s offer has been whittled down to proposals for raises of 8.5% retroactive to July 1, 2023, 5.5% on July 1, 2024, 5.5% on July 1, 2025, and 4.0% on July 1, 2026.

Meanwhile, Dow Jones didn’t even bother to make a wage proposal until nearly two months of negotiations had elapsed. The company’s opening offer of 3.0% in 2023, with raises for 2024 and 2025 to be determined has evolved to its current proposal of a combined Year 1 and Year 2 raise of 7.0%—so, 3.5% per year—payable upon ratification, followed by raises of 3.0% on July 1, 2025 and July 1, 2026.

IAPE had no formal response to the company’s “limited” proposal, though union negotiators did warn management that employees are likely to be extremely disappointed by yesterday’s offer. Following a management complaint that, “You’re going to call your members to action,” the IAPE bargaining team responded with words of caution.

“You might be surprised to find out that we’re holding our members back. We are sitting on a powder keg. We have a very engaged and increasingly angry membership.”

Negotiations are scheduled to resume next Thursday, May 2.  See your email to sign up for Open Bargaining.

“Ring, Ring Collective Action Calling”
Starting next week, IAPE’s Contract Action Team (CAT) will be calling members 1:1 to take the pulse on upcoming actions. We encourage you to take those calls and provide your input.

If you’ve changed your number or aren’t sure what number is on file, please email union@iape1096.org with your current personal number.

Sign Up for April 23 Town Hall Q&A

We heard you during our recent coffee breaks. You have questions, and we have answers.

Join IAPE members next Tuesday, April 23 at 3:00 p.m. EDT for a Town Hall Q&A. Union representatives will provide a quick update on contract negotiations and collective actions, but as the name implies, we’ll also take time to answer your questions. Either submit questions ahead of time through this signup form or raise your hand during the Town Hall.

This area of bargaining—in negotiations for 311 days and counting and working without a contract—is a bit uncharted for many IAPE members and it is important that we all are on the same page. If you are not sure of something, don’t be afraid to ask. There are probably several other members with the same questions as you.

Sign up for our Town Hall meeting here.

IAPE Slack
If you haven’t joined IAPE Slack yet, here’s another chance!

IAPE Slack serves as a community for union members to come together, find resources, and coordinate collective actions in a space outside of Dow Jones platforms. We host a great live vent session during all Open Bargaining sessions and those have helped build a sense of community and IAPE power.

Join us! Sign up for IAPE Slack here.