Dow Jones Editorial Workers Mobilize, Win Retirement Security Protections

CWA EDITORIAL EMPLOYEES at the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Co. reached a settlement after seven months
of contentious bargaining and a highly publicized mobilization campaign provoked by management's initial demand to slash retirement benefits.

For years, Dow Jones had contributed 15 percent of an employee's salary to individual profit-sharing accounts, but this year the company proposed cutting the contribution nearly in half.

That action sent infuriated reporters to demonstrate at the April shareholders meeting and to mobilize in other ways, as reported by Brian Steinberg of the Dow Jones News Service: "Usually seen only in bylines in their home publication, reporters became the subjects of stories in rival newspapers. In protest, they staged lunch-hour demonstrations, deluged company executives with e-mail, and boycotted appearances on CNBC, the business news channel with which the parent company has several agreements."

The tentative agreement reached Oct. 25, covering some 2,400 workers, creates several new retirement benefits including a new money-purchase pension plan funded by the employer at 7 percent of salary and a new 401(k) plan
with management contributions of up to 5 percent.

Announcing the settlement, Ron Chen, president of the Independent Association of Publishers Employees, IAPE-CWA, said: "This was our most important objective, to win a secure retirement benefit for employees at all
income levels, and we believe we achieved it." The old plan, he said, "had no bottom, no safety net."

The new pact also boosts salaries by 9.5 percent over three years, with 3 percent retroactive to May 1.

In addition to the Wall Street Journal and the News Wire, IAPE-CWA members work at Barron's and SmartMoney magazines and various electronic and online news services.