Dow Jones | Union reaches tentative contract

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, which represents about 1,700 Dow Jones & Co. workers, says it has struck a tentative, four-year agreement with management that the union is recommending be ratified. "While not the contract that any of us would have written if we could have written it alone, we're convinced this is the best deal we can get with Dow Jones right now,'' negotiators say in a note on the group's website. "Given the generally dismal condition of the news business — and the discouraging pattern of recent contract agreements across the industry — we're convinced this is a deal that must be ratified."