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WGA East members employed at NowThis, the progressive news site owned by Vox Media, have unanimously ratified their first-ever contract. The 65-member bargaining unit will see an average raise of 9% in the first year of the agreement, with the lowest-tiered employees receiving a minimum salary of $62,000 by the end of the two-year pact.

WGA East members employed at Vox Media digital news outlets have voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying a new three-year contract that was reached just hours before the union threatened to go on strike. According to the guild, 95% of those covered by the contract took part in the vote, and all but one voted to ratify it.

WGA East members have voted overwhelmingly to approve changes to the guild’s constitution that are designed to ensure a more “balanced representation” of members by bridging the divide between those who work in film, TV and broadcasting, and those employed in digital newsrooms.

Some 260 WGA members employed at CBS News have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new three-year contract. The new agreement, which was approved by 89% of those who voted, the guild said Monday, covers WGA East and WGA West members who work as news writers, producers, graphic artists, desk associates and others at the network’s news operations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C.

The WGA is gearing up for a showdown with the major companies next year. In his annual report, WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson told his members that the WGA East and West “have a lot of work to do at the bargaining table next year … to ensure that our members can sustain meaningful careers as the industry continues its transformation.”

Wilson Chapman editorThe Writers Guild Initiative, a non-profit organization affiliated with the Writers Guild of America East, has unveiled a new Support Staff Training Program for aspiring TV writers that is set to launch next month.The WGI’s charter is to support people from marginalized communities who are looking to go into screenwriting. The Support Staff Program, funded by a grant from NBCUniversal, provides individuals with two career tracks on the support-staff level: writers assistant and script coordinator.

The WGA East, whose leaders last year talked openly about spinning off their digital news members into a separate union, is now fully embracing them by proposing changes to the guild’s constitution that would ensure “balanced representation” on its governing body for members from its different work sectors.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorLeaders of the WGA East have reached a compromise after months of friction over the membership base of the union that represents film and TV writers on the East Coast.The WGA East council voted unanimously to pursue major changes to the union’s constitution to allow for different classifications of membership. The council is recommending changes that will be voted on in a member referendum later this spring.All of this is an effort to settle the divide over the WGA East’s big push during the last decade to organize writers for digital news and entertainment outlets.“The WGAE Council has spent the last several months working together and with an outside facilitator.

Following a six-day strike and four days of picketing in New York City, WGA East members have voted near-unanimously to ratify a new contract with G/O Media covering about 100 staffers at its digital news outlets Gizmodo, Jezebel, The Root, Lifehacker, Kotaku and Jalopnik.

The AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees is urging Congress to increase federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to $565 million in fiscal year 2022 and the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities to $201 million each – funding levels that were passed by the House of Representatives in July.

The editorial staff at Salon, the digital news site, has voted unanimously to ratify their second collective bargaining agreement with the WGA East. Under the new deal, nearly half of the 16 guild members covered by the contract will receive salary increases of at least $10,000 a year.

The WGA East’s second contract with Fast Company and Inc. has been unanimously ratified by their 60-member editorial staffs. The two print and digital business news outlets are owned by Mansueto Ventures.

Jewish Currents and the WGA East have reached their first-ever collective bargaining agreement. The new three-year contract was unanimously approved by digital news outlet’s seven-member editorial staff. It will bring all salaries above $60,000 by the end of the contract and provides for 4% pay raises in the first and third years, and 3% in the second.

Chalkbeat and the WGA East have reached their first collective bargaining agreement, which has been unanimously ratified by the digital news organization’s 30-member bargaining unit that includes writers, editors and video producers.

A majority of the 125 writers, producers, hosts, editors and researchers at the iHeartPodcast Network have signed union cards to organize with the WGA East, which is calling on the company to recognize the guild voluntarily as the bargaining representative of its staff.

Former WGA East president Michael Winship, running unopposed, will be the guild’s next president, succeeding Beau Willimon, who’s not seeking re-election after four years in office. House of Cards creator Willimon led the guild through the WGA’s historic legal battle that reshaped the talent agency business.

In an upbeat annual report to members released Friday, WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson said that despite the hardships imposed by the pandemic, “overall our members’ earnings remained remarkably strong.” Freelance film, TV and streaming writers, he wrote, “have mostly remained employed throughout the pandemic,” though “some members certainly lost work opportunities – series that did not go forward, pitches left unmade, potential feature projects stuck in limbo.”

The WGA came out today in opposition to Georgia’s new voter-suppression law, suggesting that the state’s booming film and television industry might suffer if it’s allowed to stand. Supporters of the law say it’s designed to prevent voter fraud.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThough confined to a virtual ceremony thanks to the pandemic, leadership at the Writers Guild of America still found cause for celebration at their annual awards ceremony.WGA West president David Goodman and WGA East head Beau Willimon addressed nominees and members in a pre-recorded greeting on Sunday, recapping their recent triumph in a nearly three-year battle with the talent agencies.“We are recording this 3 weeks ahead of the ceremony, so if anything has

A growing chorus of entertainment industry union leaders is condemning Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol building by supporters of President Donald Trump – and the politicians who incited the violence.

David Robb Labor EditorThe WGA East has launched a Safe Workplace Helpline for members who experience harassment or discrimination.

David Robb Labor EditorWomen writers carried the day in the WGA East’s Council elections, winning nine of the ten seats up for grabs. The only man to win a seat was former WGA East president Michael Winship.

After two weeks of nationwide protests sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, the Writers Guild of America East took an unprecedented step — confronting a powerful law enforcement union. On June 8, the WGA East became the first member of the AFL-CIO to call on it, the largest labor group in the U.S., to disaffiliate from the International Union of Police Associations, the only law enforcement group represented by the federation.

David Robb Labor EditorCreators and showrunners aren’t mentioned in the industry’s protocols for the safe reopening of TV production, but they’ll play key roles in on-set safety, according to leaders of the WGA East.“There have been some rumors going around that the protocols aim to exclude creators, showrunners and writer/producers from set.

By David Robb

By David Robb

By David Robb

Members of the Writers Guild have strongly backed a negotiating proposal that requires studios to bar non-franchised talent agents from representing WGA members.