Candidate Post: Debate - Thursday, Oct 14, 2020 - Jodi Green

Hello fellow IAPE members,

Every day I seem to sit down to write up a blog post and then get pulled away for one reason or another.  I am happy to report that my second and third zoom meetings went much better than the first one!  My opponent, Steve and I also held a joint meeting on Friday, which I thought was quite successful.  I am very much looking forward to the debate we will be holding tomorrow.  I can promise it will be nothing like the national Presidential debate. I’m excited to meet more of our members and to have a chance to further elaborate on my vision for the future of our union.

One of the questions that I was asked multiple times is what kind of plan do I have to mobilize IAPE when we are all working from home and can’t show support wearing our t-shirts, showing up at the coffee bar with our mugs, etc.  It’s true that being all virtual presents a challenge to the typical ways we have always shown support.  But at Dow Jones, we are nothing if not innovative.  Last year during bargaining, a large amount of members changed their avatars from their pictures to a picture of the Quality News Deserves a Quality Contract.  Changing our avatar to reflect whatever the union is organizing around is still one thing we can do.  When we are in meeting, especially town halls and large department or company meetings, seeing a sea of IAPE avatars is definitely a show of support.  We could still wear our t-shirts on Tuesdays and make sure our cameras are on for any meetings we attend.  We can have letter writing campaigns.  If any of you have had meetings with our current (and future) Princeton Location Director, Tricia Corley, you have seen her “fake” cublicle wall that she has built behind her desk.  She has decorated it for Halloween.  There’s no reason we can’t all be creative and create our own “IAPE backdrops” that will get seen in every meeting we attend.  My opponent had some good ideas as well, which I would definitely implement if you elect me as President.  In fact, I would like to hope that Steve and I will work closely together no matter who wins, as we both have the same desire for our Union.  To make it as strong and LOUD as it can be (kudos to Steve for borrowing my slogan in our joint meeting!).  

Also, as you can see by the emails being sent out by IAPE, negotiations do not take place only during a new contract year.  2020 has been a bizarre and very difficult year.  The company cannot ignore the needs of our members.  The issues we are fighting for are going to go on for as long as this “new normal” continues.  I am sure the longer we’re all working from home, more and more challenges will come up as well.  As part of the current board, I am currently a part of identifying these issues and approaching the company about them.  As your President, I will continue to do so, taking the torch from our current President and carrying it forward.

By now, you should have all received your ballot in the mail.  Like I wrote in my previous blog post, I would highly suggest filling it out as soon as possible and putting it right back in the mail.  That way you don’t forget about it and you can be sure that it gets back to AAA in time for it to count.  With the problems happening in the post office and with hundreds of thousands of people sending in their national Presidential ballots via USPS, the sooner you mail your IAPE ballot, the better.

Looks like I made up for my delay in blog posts by posting a long one.  Hope to see you all at the debate!

Jodi