WGA East Members at WNET THIRTEEN Ratify New Union Contract

Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) members at WNET THIRTEEN unanimously ratified a new two-year collective bargaining agreement.

The 10-member WNET bargaining unit, which consists of promotional writers for the tri-state area PBS station THIRTEEN, secured job protections that will allow them to continue doing their vital promo, fundraising and pledge drive work for the station.

Deal highlights include a pay raise in 2024 to match non-union employees, and a 3% raise for staff and a bonus for per diems in 2025. The bargaining unit also secured language confirming that Guild members may be assigned digital and creative work.

Members at WNET THIRTEEN fought to protect their union via actions such as public escalations and a letter delivered to WNET’s Board of Trustees and Community Advisory Board. The unit successfully convinced management to drop its proposal to have the ability to assign an essentially unlimited amount of bargaining unit work to non-union employees, and its proposal to have the power to replace ¾ of staff employees with per diems.

In a statement, representatives of the WNET Union, said, “We faced challenging negotiations this year with WNET and it took the solidarity of not only our union colleagues at WNET, but the larger WGAE community to pressure management to drop their proposals. We are proud of what we have achieved! WNET members will see improved compensation during the term of this contract and continue to be part of the Writers Guild.”

WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said, “We’re so proud that our members at WNET held strong for the contract they needed. Their dedication persuaded management to drop proposals threatening the unit’s existence, and secured the raises they deserve.”

In its Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News sector, WGAE members work 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.

ABOUT THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST

The Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO, is a labor union of more than 7,500 members working in film, television, news, podcasts and online media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit wgaeast.org.

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