Dow Jones’ union president has come under intense fire from one of his top negotiators, who accused him of stripping the union of its negotiating power.
E.S. “Jim” Browning, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal and the head of the Independent Association of Publishing Employees’ negotiating committee, claims that IAPE President Steve Yount seriously eroded the union’s bargaining power in putting together a new contract proposal reached over the weekend.
“This is not the best contract we could have gotten, but the union board had little choice,” said Browning in an angry e-mail to union members that went out late Sunday, a day after Yount and the IAPE board voted 15-6 to accept the pact, which covers around 2,000 editorial workers at the Journal, Barrons and the Dow Jones newswire.
Union members have until Oct. 15 to ratify the proposal, which includes annual pay hikes of 3 percent, up from an initial 2 percent. There is also some added protection if the inflation rate hits 3.25 percent, but health care premiums are also expected to rise – in some cases doubling from current levels.
The negotiations took on new urgency this year because of the looming $5 billion takeover of Dow Jones by News Corp., which also owns The Post. The deal is expected to close in November.