WSJ union files grievance over 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.”

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.