Dow Jones workers in Jersey City vote to join union

Employees of Dow Jones & Co., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and Dow Jones Newswires, in Jersey City have voted to join the union that already represents hundreds of business journalists at the company.

Among the Dow Jones operations with employees in Jersey City are Dow Jones Newsletters and Dow Jones Newswires.

An AP story stated, “The union, the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees local 1096, said if the vote count is verified by a third party, it would organize more than 200 employees, one of the largest Dow Jones employee groups not represented by the union. It could also give IAPE 1096 additional clout in ongoing contract talks with the company.

“IAPE 1096 represents more than 1,800 employees at The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Factiva and other Dow Jones properties. Some Newswires bureaus also are part of the union already.

“IAPE 1096 said it notified Dow Jones Friday morning that it has collected signed union-representation cards from a majority of union-eligible employees. An independent third party must verify the vote count, a process that could take several weeks.

“‘We’re quite certain of an overwhelming majority,’ said Tim Martell, the organizer for IAPE local 1096.

“The move comes after months of recruitment efforts at the Jersey City location. Dow Jones has said employees are better off under the current system, which gives employees benefits parallel to union-represented workers.”

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