WSJ union criticizes Dow Jones at annual company meeting

NEW YORK (AP) - Reporters from The Wall Street Journal, escalating an increasingly hostile standoff with management, picketed in front of Dow Jones & Co.'s annual meeting to demand better wage and health care benefits. 

About 50 journalists carried placards criticizing the company's contract proposal and chanted "Zero percent, what will pay the rent" and "Peter, Peter, benefits eater" in reference to chairman and CEO Peter Kann. 

At the April 21 meeting, two Journal reporters who won Pulitzer prizes last month, Thomas Burton and Daniel Golden, read a letter appealing to Dow Jones executives to offer a better package of salary and benefits. 

E.S. "Jim" Browning, a stock market reporter with 25 years at the paper, told the meeting that Dow Jones management "has made a bad miscalculation about how far they can push a group of loyal employees," who are "becoming more angry as time goes by." 

The protests follow several months of tense negotiations between the company and its main union, the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees. The union has engaged in other protests this year, including other picketing in front of the company's headquarters and showing up late as part of a job action. 

In response to the union's statements, Kann told the shareholder meeting that the company "continues to bargain in good faith on these issues that divide us," but added that he wanted to leave the specifics of contract negotiations private. 

Kann also added tersely that he resented the implication that the company was forsaking quality in its efforts to cut costs. "We do share a commitment to quality," Kann said, with a tremble in his voice. That he doesn't, he said, was "the one insinuation I somewhat resent." 

Such protests are rare at Dow Jones, which has been known for a paternalistic culture that demanded loyalty from employees and rewarded them with generous benefits. Browning, who serves on the union's bargaining committee, says that culture has been eroding. 

Union-represented employees at Dow Jones have been working without a contract for about a year. The union replaced its president and bargaining committee after its rank and file members rejected an agreement reached with management last fall. 

The offer currently on the table calls for a reduction in health care benefits and no wage increase for 2003. Burton and Golden said Dow Jones' proposal would give employees an average annual pay increase of 1.8 percent over the life of the contract, versus a comparable annual increase of 2.9 percent at The New York Times. 

The union says the company's cutbacks have contributed to the recent departures of several top staffers. Charles Gasparino, a veteran Wall Street reporter, recently left to join Newsweek magazine. He had also served on the union's bargaining committee. 

The previous week, Dow Jones reported results before one-time items that beat analysts' expectations. Revenue rose 12 percent amid an improving advertising climate, but the company said advertising remained far below normal levels and that executives would keep a careful eye on costs. Employees say the company's outlook is better than executives' cautious forecast. 

The union also has taken its case to the Bancroft family, Dow Jones' controlling shareholder, with an open letter to them in an advertisement on the op-ed page in April 20 editions of The New York Times. The letter called the company's contract proposals "a direct attack on the paper's ability to attract and retain quality reporting talent." 

James Ottaway, a member of Dow Jones' board, said after the meeting that "all of the directors were concerned" about the union's objections. "I believe in their right to petition the company, but I believe the details of the union contract should be discussed in private," he said. 

Managing Editor Paul Steiger said that "any time you have a negotiation, feelings run high," but he added that he expected progress toward an agreement soon. "I believe the union has been very responsible in expressing their point of view," he said. 

It wasn't the first time the union has used Dow Jones' annual meeting to press its case. In 1999, two other reporters fresh from winning Pulitzers spoke out against a company proposal to cut its contributions to employee's retirement funds. 

The union also sponsored a shareholder proposal that would separate the jobs of chief executive and chairman, which are both currently held by Kann, but it was voted down. The union has made similar proposals in the past.