IAPE Files Grievances Challenging DC Layoffs

The IAPE Grievance Committee filed two complaints on Friday alleging Dow Jones violated the collective bargaining agreement when it laid off 17 Reporters in Washington last month. The union’s grievances specify two sections of the contract ignored by management during the Feb. 1 cuts: the Job Security provision, requiring Dow Jones to follow seniority rules when reducing staff, and the Transfers article which allows employees to follow jobs that are moved from one department to another.

The latter, a provision negotiated in 2019 after the elimination of Personal Finance reporting jobs in New York, prevents management from requiring staff to re-apply for substantially similar jobs after claiming to eliminate roles via layoff.

“We will always take Dow Jones to task for violating our contract,” said IAPE President, Jodi Green. “We continue to fight for the rights of our members both at the bargaining table and in our workplaces.”

Quoted this morning by Politico, a Dow Jones spokesperson said “the company’s actions were entirely consistent with the provisions of the parties labor contract.”

We’ll see. The contract gives IAPE the right to file for binding arbitration after 20 days.

Survey Time! We Want to Hear From You!
We have surpassed 260 days of bargaining with Dow Jones for a new contract, and we want to hear from IAPE members! There are key items outstanding in our contract negotiations that are important to all of us, and we want to hear your experiences and what impact these contract proposals have on you.

See your email to partciapate in today’s survey.

As part of the union’s efforts to pressure Dow Jones to meet us with fair proposals, our member-run Contract Action Team (CAT) wants to gauge how members feel about potential  actions.

There are two sections to this survey: Testimonials, and Union Escalation comfort levels. Please take a few minutes to tell us about your priorities and what you would do to support a campaign for a Fair Contract Now!