WSJ, Marketwatch union: Company becoming impatient

An update posted on the web site of the union that represents business journalists working at The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch, Dow Jones Newswires and Barron’s stated that the Dow Jones negotiators are becoming impatient in recent contract negotiations.

The update stated, “They told us at our four-hour bargaining session on Tuesday January 9th that they are tired of talking about other issues and want to shift, abruptly, to healthcare, which they have said is their top priority.

“We told them that we are willing to discuss healthcare, and we reminded them that it is the top priority for many of us as well. We aren’t prepared to accept drastic increases in health costs just because the company has imposed them on management-level employees. The only way we would consider any changes at all would be if they were compensated for by improvements elsewhere, such as in wages, job security and other benefits.

“The signals from their side were not positive. In addition to demanding sharply higher health premiums and drug costs, they told us that they intend to offer us no more than ‘market’ wage increases. They said they remain unwilling to consider the majority of our other proposals.

“We pointed out to them that they have just announced 21 more layoffs of IAPE members, in addition to layoffs of many non-union employees, which was a terrible way to start the year and makes job security an even more urgent concern for all of us.

“We did finalize a minor agreement on premium pay, which would increase the minimum amount you’re paid for working on days off, and also would set rules about the timing for submission and approval of premium-pay requests.”

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