If you had trouble reaching a Wall Street Journal reporter this morning, that’s because many wsjlogo.jpgwho belong to the union chose not to show up for work across the country until this afternoon. It’s been described to me as a “non walk-in”. First, because they feel the paper’s long tradition of independence is threatened murdochsmaller.jpgsince its editorial integrity is dependent on an owner committed to journalistic independence. (In other words, that’s not Rupert Murdoch.) And second, they want their absence to remind Dow Jones management how uncool it is to award golden parachutes to 135 top executives while seeking to eviscerate employees’ health benefits and impose salary adjustments that amount to a pay cut. Dow Jones is currently in contract negotiations with its primary union, Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, a local of the Newspaper Guild. Even to the point of beseeching other buyers, the union is fighting Murdoch’s Dow Jones purchase which sadly seems inevitable now. Wait til the WSJ reporters read Murdoch’s new Time magazine interview in which he dismissively rails about the ruling Bancroft family trying to guarantee the WSJ‘s editorial independence and integrity: “They can’t sell their company and still control it — that’s not how it works. I’m sorry!” Get those resumes ready now.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.