NOTICE OF REFERENDUM

RULES FOR 2025 REFERENDUM TO APPROVE UNION BYLAWS

Notice is herewith given of the 2025 referendum to amend Bylaws, as provided by the Bylaws of IAPE Local 1096, TNG/CWA.

THE FOLLOWING RULES WILL GOVERN THE ELECTION:

This Notice of Referendum will be e-mailed to the email address(es) of each IAPE represented employee no later than Friday, October 31, 2025, and posted on the IAPE website, www.iape1096.org.

In accordance with the Bylaws of IAPE Local 1096, TNG/CWA, the only binding membership action shall be by referendum.

Bylaws may be amended as follows:

Amendments to the Bylaws shall be presented to the Local membership upon the recommendation of a majority of the members of the Board of Directors present and voting at a regular or special meeting, or upon the petition of fifteen percent (15%) of the members of the Local.

Where amendments to the Bylaws are proposed by the Board of Directors, the Board shall establish the rules and procedures for the membership vote.  Where the amendment to the Bylaws is submitted upon petition of fifteen percent (15%) of the membership of the Local, the Elections Committee shall establish the rules and procedures for the membership vote.

The amendment of the Bylaws shall take effect upon adoption by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the Local voting, in accordance with the effective date set forth in the amendment.  If no effective date is set forth, the amendment shall take effect upon the first day of the month following adoption by the membership.

This NOTICE of REFERENDUM will be available to all bargaining unit members via the IAPE website www.iape1096.org as of Friday, October 31, 2025.

The election will be conducted by online voting. Ballot security credentials and login information will be delivered via Dow Jones email on Monday, November 17, 2025 by TrueBallot Inc., to all eligible members who were in good standing as of Friday, November 10, 2025

Detailed voting instructions will accompany the ballot. If you do not receive a ballot and believe you are eligible to vote, please contact the IAPE Election Committee: elections@iape1096.org.

Members will be asked to vote “YES” to accept or “NO” to reject the BYLAWS for IAPE Local 1096, TNG/CWA. Details of the BYLAWS are posted here: https://www.iape1096.org/s/FinalDraftBylaws.pdf.

Only official ballots will be counted.

All ballots must be received by TrueBallot Inc. no later than 11:59 a.m. EST, Thursday, December 4, 2025 to be counted.

Ballots will be counted by TrueBallot Inc. commencing at 12:00 p.m. EST, Thursday, December 4, 2025. Results will be emailed to members and posted on the IAPE website, www.iape1096.org, on Friday, December 5, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. EST.

PURPOSE OF RULES

These rules supplement, and must be read and applied in conjunction with, the IAPE bylaws or CWA Constitution provision that is their source. These rules shall be interpreted and applied liberally to ascertain the actual intent of the voter and the true result of any election, and shall not be interpreted or applied so as to unnecessarily disqualify eligible voters for immaterial irregularity.

Open Enrollment: Pay Attention to the Details

Today, Dow Jones emailed a notice to all U.S. employees advising them that open enrollment for 2026 health insurance options will begin on Nov. 5. And while the “What’s New” article contains helpful details allowing you to begin deciding between medical & prescription, dental and vision plan options, one key element is missing from the information available thus far:

The price.

Last week, Dow Jones provided IAPE with advance notice of 2026 health insurance premiums for U.S. employees and highlighted where plans will be more expensive next year.

In short, premiums are increasing for employee-and-dependent coverage in almost all plans. Employee-only premium rates remain unchanged, as IAPE and Dow Jones agreed during last year’s contract negotiations, and premiums will remain the same for the company’s Centivo option.

For full details of 2026 health insurance options, take a close look at your open enrollment materials when your enrollment email arrives next Wednesday. Members who have joined IAPE Slack can see a recording of yesterday’s Contract 101 class, with an IAPE preview of 2026 U.S. benefits and tips for open enrollment.

The Aetna POS II plan for family coverage will continue to be the most expensive option for U.S. members. Premium rates will increase from 6.7% of salary per month to 7.2% of salary. That extra 0.5% of your pay represents a 7.4% year-over-year increase.

Obviously, none of us are thrilled that Dow Jones has opted to make health insurance more expensive for its employees, particularly as it continues to report record profits quarter after quarter. But a deal is a deal. The 2026 insurance plan premiums the company will unveil next week are consistent with the maximum changes permissible under the IAPE/DJ collective agreement. See the side-letter beginning on page 63 of our contract for details. A premium chart showing where the company is permitted to make annual increases is available in that document, and below this message.

Apart from premium increases, Dow Jones has announced other changes to its insurance plans, including an increase in the annual in-network deductible for the CDHP plan, to $1,700 individual and $3,400 family, up from $1,650 and $3,300 this year—but below the maximum allowable amount over the life of the collective agreement.

It’s not all bad news. No other costs have been shifted onto plan participants. And in 2026, the IRS will increase Health Savings Account options to $4,400 for employee-only coverage and $8,750 for families. Dependent care limits will rise to $7,500, but will remain at $1,800 for highly compensated employees.

CDHP plan participants will now have a $0 copay for 98point6 services. And diagnostic colonoscopies and breast screenings will be covered at a $0 copay under all plans.

The bottom line, however, is that Dow Jones has once again decided to make it more expensive for a significant portion of its employee population to come to work each day. That’s no way to maintain a healthy workforce.

Let’s Update our Bylaws!

The IAPE Bylaws Committee is pleased to present to members a package of new Bylaws—the union’s guiding document—for adoption by member referendum.

So, what are IAPE Bylaws?

Union Bylaws are required by law and establish rules and guidelines for union operations. They should be current and should clearly define member expectations like dues rates and how members are represented.

IAPE’s current Bylaws, last updated in 2003, are lacking in this regard.

IAPE’s Committee—President Jodi Green, Northeast Location Director Jenny Kerrigan, Mid-Atlantic Location Director Ariana Vera and Executive Director Tim Martell—delivered a draft Bylaws package to the IAPE Board of Directors on Sept. 27. The IAPE Board, by majority vote, authorized a membership referendum to approve these new Bylaws.

A two-thirds majority of members voting in the upcoming referendum is necessary to approve this new document. The IAPE Election Committee will soon announce plans for an online referendum.

In the meantime, all members are invited to attend Town Hall meetings to hear details and ask questions about the new IAPE Bylaws. Special half-hour Zoom updates are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 30, Tuesday, Nov. 4, Thursday, Nov. 13 and Tuesday, Nov. 18. All sessions begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

To receive your invitation to attend these Town Hall updates, register at the IAPE Events Page.

Contract 101: Open Enrollment; What’s a Layoff?

The next installment of IAPE Contract 101, originally scheduled for this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. EDT, has been pushed back to next Wednesday at the same time.

Today’s class was going to focus on Dow Jones health insurance and IAPE tips for open enrollment, which begins next month.

Responding to demand from members, the rescheduled session will also review enrollment options, but will add a component on job security, and what happens when Dow Jones eliminates jobs through the layoff process.

Register for Contract 101 at the IAPE Events Page. Can’t make next Wednesday’s class, but have questions about either topic? Send us a note: union@iape1096.org.

WSJ Management Cuts Health & Science, Education Reporters

They’ve done it again.

One week after announcing plans to outsource 40 IAPE-represented jobs in Finance departments to an artificial intelligence vendor in India, and a little more than two months after CEO Almar Latour touted “the best year on record for Dow Jones,” corporate leaders have continued on a seemingly never-ending quest to find “efficiencies” at the expense of its hardworking staff.

Yesterday, it was WSJ management’s turn—again—to cut positions. Another “we are saying goodbye to some colleagues” email from Editor in Chief Emma Tucker broke the news: a restructuring of Health & Science and Education teams and the layoff of a dozen staffers, including seven IAPE-represented reporters.

With these latest workforce reductions, fifteen union-represented reporting jobs—and 78 IAPE-represented positions overall—have been eliminated this year alone. Since Tucker’s arrival as EIC in 2023, more than 40 IAPE-represented Journal reporters have been summoned to layoff meetings.

So, yes, we say goodbye again. From the IAPE-represented ranks alone, we say goodbye to a collective 70 years of WSJ experience and to award-winning journalists. We say goodbye to colleagues we knew we could always depend on. We say goodbye to friends.

Wall Street Journal subscribers can say goodbye to the reporters’ distinctive, expert articles and other content they’ve been paying top dollar for. WSJ readers will get less.

“I recognize that change can be unsettling,” Tucker wrote in yesterday’s staff memo. That’s not entirely accurate. Change can be exciting or invigorating. But this sort of change—change without any sense of direction, any clear end goal other than mindless cost-cutting under the guise of nebulous restructuring, or any indication workforce reductions will end in the near future—is infuriating.

It is also a big distraction and bad for Dow Jones. This latest change is sure to hasten the drain of WSJ newsroom talent as remaining staffers polish their resumes and reach out to recruiters elsewhere. What is the long-term reward for hard work, loyalty and winning awards at Dow Jones? The answer again and again is an unceremonious kick out the door.

The collective agreement between IAPE and Dow Jones contains negotiated severance and post-termination benefits for all union-represented employees who lose their jobs as a result of these shortsighted layoffs. However, it is clear that current job security provisions in the contract are not sufficient. IAPE members will remember these layoffs when it comes time to renegotiate the current agreement.

IAPE Board Approves Budget, Bylaws Referendum

Directors to vote on stipend increase for President

At its annual in-person meeting on Sept. 27, the IAPE Board of Directors approved a 2025-26 budget package projecting a 5.87% reduction in expenses over the next fiscal year, while maintaining a healthy annual surplus. 

The union’s representative board approved a hefty increase in its Arbitrations line item and preserved an aggressive Legal expenses fund, in the event IAPE needs to challenge management actions through the grievance and arbitration process or other litigation.

The line item for staff payroll was slashed by a third, reflecting the current makeup of the IAPE workforce consisting of an Executive Director and an Organizer. The union has not yet filled the vacancy left by the departure of its Administrative Officer in January.

Directors authorized another year of stipend payments for the top officers of the Local: President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Occupants of each position are entitled to an $835 monthly payment in recognition for work performed on behalf of the union. Stipends will continue through the conclusion of the current term of office, Nov. 30, 2026.

During the Sept. 27 meeting, Directors delayed a motion to amend the stipend package for the President, intended to increase the monthly payment for IAPE President Jodi Green to $1,000 per month.

Yesterday, the IAPE Board—minus Green, who recused herself from stipend discussions—received supplemental information regarding Green’s current salary, the current median and average salaries for IAPE-represented employees, and contractual benefits available to Dow Jones employees, but not the IAPE President, such as overtime or comp time, stand-by pay and the ability to sell vacation time back to Dow Jones.

IAPE Directors will vote next Wednesday on the question of whether Green’s stipend should be increased by $165 per month through the conclusion of this term.

Members to Vote on New Bylaws
IAPE Directors also approved a membership referendum on a new Bylaws package, to replace existing IAPE Bylaws last updated in 2003. Over the next few weeks, IAPE’s Bylaws Committee will present and explain the new document, and the union’s Election Committee will announce plans for a membership vote as soon as details are finalized.

IAPE Sticks with Fitness Plan
The IAPE Board opted to decline an invitation from Dow Jones to join the corporate wellness program, currently available to non-union staff, which pays up to $200 per quarter for physical, emotional and financial well-being items.

The company invited IAPE participation in the non-union plan on the condition that it would replace the negotiated, guaranteed IAPE Physical Fitness Plan, which pays up to $700 per year—with no quarterly limits—for qualifying physical fitness activities.

Dow Jones to Outsource Finance Positions

Yesterday, IAPE members working in Dow Jones Finance departments received some difficult news.

During a hastily-arranged staff meeting, management announced Dow Jones has reached an agreement to outsource payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, collections and other functions to Genpact, a business process management firm that uses “agentic AI solutions" to perform tasks for clients. Finance operations, currently performed by Dow Jones staff mostly assigned to Princeton and New York departments, will be shipped outside the United States.

Additional details, though not many, were provided to staff during smaller team meetings throughout the day on Tuesday.

IAPE officials are scheduled to meet with representatives from the company’s Legal and People departments this afternoon, but Dow Jones has already advised the union that this new outsourcing initiative will result in the loss of approximately 40 IAPE-represented positions across Finance groups. Job cuts will likely take effect in late January or early February of next year.

Finance handled by AI. What could possibly go wrong?

The collective agreement between IAPE and Dow Jones contains a few provisions addressing outsourcing of union-covered jobs to other companies, but no measures to prevent those job losses altogether. Whenever more than ten positions are identified to be eliminated as a result of outsourcing—or the introduction of artificial intelligence systems—Dow Jones is required to provide employees with at least 45 days’ notice. The union must be informed at least 14 days in advance of any formal notice to employees.

No formal layoff notices were delivered yesterday.

IAPE-represented employees who lose jobs as a result of outsourcing are entitled to enhanced severance pay—an additional four weeks’ worth of pay on top of their contractual entitlement—and a greater level of retraining allowance than employees whose positions are eliminated through “normal” Dow Jones layoffs.

This is not the first time Dow Jones has opted to outsource jobs and functions performed by loyal, hard-working Dow Jones employees. Nearly 20 years ago, the company transferred Finance jobs offshore and did the same with several application-development and maintenance-support roles in Technology. The difference, of course, is those outsourcing plans were announced after years of belt-tightening and financial woe for a then-independent Dow Jones.

Now, of course, we are treated to quarterly announcements of record Dow Jones performance and thank you messages from senior management for “making Dow Jones a success story.”

Some thanks this is.

IAPE representatives will ensure that all contract terms and conditions are observed as the company continues with plans to eliminate jobs held by our friends and colleagues. Members affected by yesterday’s news are invited to email union@iape1096.org with any questions, comments or concerns.

You Should Be a Steward!

Has anybody ever told you that you would be an amazing IAPE steward?

No? Seriously? You must be kidding.

Really, you’d be great.

Let’s try this: Come and hear from IAPE leaders and your fellow members about what it means to be an IAPE steward. We have four sessions this week to choose from. Please register using one of these Zoom links! 

Tuesday, October 7th at 1:00 p.m. EDT: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/x8ABzvuvTLGGEZprhGPsng

Tuesday, October 7th at 5:00 p.m. EDT: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/SuDC-1JLRRS2uanJtyhGsA

Thursday, October 9th at 1:00 p.m. EDT: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/xIxh2W8wT4ClHDZ8urc81Q

Thursday, October 9th at 5:00 p.m. EDT: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PXVIsLb3QLy8j2VGhkA8bw

Each Zoom info session is scheduled for one hour. Join us!

IAPE Condemns Violence Against Journalists

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, three journalists—Dean Moses, Olga Fedorova and L. Vural Elibol—covering immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in New York were violently grabbed and shoved by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Elibol required medical attention after the attack, and was transported to hospital. Moses and Fedorova weren't seriously injured, according to the Associated Press.

IAPE condemns the actions taken by these federal officers and violence against journalists in all forms.

The fundamentals of a free press require that journalists and media outlets exercise First Amendment rights and obligations to cover taxpayer-funded police activity. It should go without saying that journalists performing this valuable work need to be able to do their jobs without worrying whether they will be assaulted by law enforcement.

Journalism is not a crime. In a liberal democratic republic such as the United States of America, an assault on journalists by law enforcement is unacceptable.

Join us for IAPE 101

IAPE orientation class tomorrow

Next Contract 101 session scheduled for Oct. 22

If you were recently hired by Dow Jones, or if you transferred from a non-union position into your current role sometime over the past year, and if you ever wondered where you can go to find out more about this thing called IAPE, we have a suggestion:

Sign up for IAPE 101.

Tomorrow—Wednesday, Oct. 1—at 2:00 p.m. EDT, join us for this Zoom presentation and learn more about IAPE. We’ll cover all the basic questions: what is a union? How did you end up in a union? And most importantly, what are the benefits of being in a union?

If you can stick around beyond the first half-hour, we’ll open the virtual floor for any questions you might have.

IAPE veterans, you’re welcome to join, too.

To register and receive your Zoom invitation, sign up through the IAPE Events page. While you’re there, feel free to enroll for the next installment of IAPE Contract 101, scheduled for Oct. 22. That class will be devoted to annual IAPE tips on open enrollment and other benefits information.

Join us!