Tentative Deal for 500 CBS News Workers

Unionized CBS News staffers who have been working under an expired contract for nearly three years reached a tentative labor agreement with the network, the Writers Guild of America said Wednesday.

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.

In reaching this agreement, CBS dropped its demand for a two-tiered pay scale that would have given less to local radio workers, and to assign nonunion staff certain writing duties currently reserved for union employees.