The WGA has reached
a tentative contract deal with 500 CBS news employees. The unionized workers have been working without a contract for three years.
The 500 affected employees -- who work in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, in both TV and radio -- must vote on the contract. Positions covered by the contract range from desk assistant to producer, with average base salary between $20,000 and $70,000. The union urged its members to ratify the deal.
The preliminary deal struck between CBS and WGA will give the union staff raises of 3.5 percent annually plus a $3,700 contract bonus. The contract would run through April 1, 2010.
*****
"We are gratified that a tentative agreement has been reached so that CBS and its valued WGA news employees can put this chapter behind us," CBS said in a statement.
"This is good news for newswriters," Patric Verrone, president of the WGA West, said, adding: "We ask CBS to come back to the table with the will to make a deal with striking film and television writers."
The employees voted in November to authorize union leaders to call a strike which would have had a crippling effect on CBS news. We're glad they reached a deal. Alas, the AMPTP leaders have their heads stuck firmly in the sand, just hoping that the writers strike will go away. It won't until the AMPTP comes back to the bargaining table.
