The 60-member union for CBS News 24/7, the news organization’s streaming service, reached a tentative three-year contract deal with the network, the Writers Guild of America East announced on Thursday.
The agreement comes weeks after unit members walked off the job for 24 hours after pledging a strike. The staffers, who are spread across CBS News’ New York and San Francisco newsrooms, also staged a picket outside both offices.
It was not immediately clear what the terms of the tentative agreement were, and a WGA spokesperson declined to share specifics ahead of the unit’s vote to ratify the contract. CBS News did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Ratification voting for the contract will begin Thursday night.
CBS News 24/7, which launched in 2014, rebroadcasts CBS News shows like “60 Minutes” and “CBS Mornings” along with original shows like “The Takeout with Major Garrett.” Its union is one of four main bargaining units within the network.
The deal caps a two-month negotiation process, which marked Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss’ first time negotiating with a union under her purview. The contract talks broke down last month after both sides couldn’t agree on issues including raises, defined schedules and severance.
Unit members previously told TheWrap that managers in recent months have demanded some employees work weekend shifts that run up to 12 hours, despite no weekend-specific live programming. They also said CBS News had proposed annual raises smaller than its last two contracts. Its last contract included a 3% annual raise for each year.
Weiss told staffers in a January town hall outlining her plans for the network that her vision included “reimagining” CBS News 24/7 to become “a lab for new formats and shows,” combining “breaking news with brilliant conversations.” Her plans for CBS News have prioritized a digital and streaming future, one driven by a de-emphasis on linear ratings and instead a focus on producing scoops and driving people toward Paramount’s streaming service Paramount+.
