Dow Jones, union reach agreement on new four-year contract

Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires and Marketwatch.com, and the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees  have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract.

The package has been endorsed by the IAPE Bargaining Committee and is being reviewed by the union’s Executive Council. It will then be submitted to the full IAPE Board of Directors for debate and a vote before being submitted for a membership ratification vote before the end of April.

A notice on the union’s Web site states, “The company began these negotiations with a demand for blanket waivers covering every core element of the contract — and a demand that we surrender any right to negotiate wage increases, insisting, instead, that any future pay increases — or pay freezes — be at the sole discretion of management. We beat back each and every one of those demands.

“The company bargaining team will tell its bosses that IAPE has agreed to the same wage freeze imposed last year on non-union employees. The DJ bargaining team was under orders to deliver such a ‘freeze.’ Without it, there would be no contract. And although base rates don’t change until July 1, 2011, we’ve still managed to put more money in your pocket this year.

“Even though the company steadfastly refused lump-sum payments, signing bonuses, deferred raises and any other direct increase in weekly wages, we did negotiate a July 1st switch to the new (and better) health care plan, which will mean lower premiums immediately for more than 90% of IAPE members while maintaining current coverage. Those lower premiums are real money that you’ll see in your check every payday.”

Read more here. Union members will receive a 2 percent increase in pay in 2011, 2012 and 2013.