Dow Jones union denies blame for poor layoff rollout

IAPE 1096, the union that represents journalists at the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Marketwatch.com, pushed back on Coverage Chief Gordon Fairclough‘s claims that “union rules” were to blame for the “poor rollout” of the Washington layoffs last week.

The union statement reads:

Let’s talk about “union rules,” otherwise known as “the contract.” There is absolutely nothing, not one word, in the agreement between IAPE and Dow Jones requiring management to eliminate positions by layoff.

Choosing to erase a collective 203 years of WSJ experience from the IAPE-represented ranks of the DC Newsroom—plus an untold number of years worked by Journal editors slashed by last week’s job cuts—is a management decision.

The IAPE/DJ contract requires the company to provide “at least” 30 days’ advance notice to affected employees and to the union before eliminating a position by layoff. There is absolutely nothing, not one word, in the agreement preventing the company from providing additional advance notice.

Choosing to permit rumors to circulate and cause an entire bureau to worry about layoffs for weeks is a management decision.

There is absolutely nothing, not one word, in the agreement requiring the company to eliminate jobs in the nation’s capital, record those job cuts as “layoffs”  and reassign those same roles to New York, Houston and Atlanta.

Read more here.