Ron Chen, president of the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, the
unaffiliated union that represents Dow Jones workers, said the layoffs "appear to be unjustified and timed to prevent the company from paying out retirement benefits to several of the dismissed employees."
The decision was generally announced to employees a few weeks ago, said Thornton, noting also that the paper formally notified the Boston Globe Employees Association, an
unaffiliated union with whom the paper was in negotiations.
Vasudevan had developed contacts with other
unaffiliated unions and had association with some of those unions which were militantly fighting against the employer for their rights (like, Voltas Employees' Union and Kamani Employees' Union).