Members at the Writers Guild of America East have “overwhelmingly” ratified a new three-year deal with ABC News.
The guild touted “tremendous financial wins” in the updated agreement, as well as provisions regarding the use of artificial intelligence.
According to the WGA East, ABC News has agreed not to lay off any current staff employees and provide at least three weeks’ notice of intent to implement AI systems for written news. The parties have agreed to meet semi-annually to discuss AI as well.
Other contract details include:
- 3.5% pay increase per year for three years
- Pay increase of over 17% for Desk Assistants in the first year of the contract
- Additional 1.5% in contributions to the Health Fund and .5% will be diverted from wages in the second and third years of the agreement for employees who participate in the Funds
- Second-year Temporary Employees in the WGA Health Fund are now eligible for paid parental leave, starting in the second year of the contract
- Additional Paid Time Off, including for Juneteenth and a reduction in the number of days/hours that temporary employees must work to earn comp days
- Introduced fees for Desk Assistants who work as assignment editors, producers, or perform broadcast support functions
- The company will provide attribution to news writers who write materials for broadcast that is used on a platform that is not covered by the agreement (such as websites and streaming)
“We are immensely proud of our new contract, which we’ve won as the result of the resilience and solidarity shown by our fellow WGA East members at ABC News. With their overwhelming support, we secured a deal that outlines groundbreaking protections against Generative AI and makes significant improvements to all of our benefits,” the bargaining committee said in a statement on Tuesday.
ABC News is just one of several news outlets whose workers are represented by the WGA East. In its broadcast/cable/streaming news sector, the guild also represents staff at 1010 WINS, ABC News, Audacy (WCBS-AM, WBBM-AM, and KNX-AM), CBS News, CBS News 24/7, Fox 5 WNYW-TV, MSNBC, NBC Promo Writers, Thirteen Productions (Thirteen/WNET) and WBBM / CBS 2 News.
