CBS News Writers Authorize Strike

NEW YORK, November 20: CBS
members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to authorize a strike,
after working without a contract for two years.

About 81 percent of the
nearly 300 CBS members of the WGA voted for a strike, according to Reuters. The
union represents 500 CBS employees in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and
Washington D.C.

The union rejected CBS's
last contract offer, which established a two-tier wage package: one tier for TV
and network radio workers and another for local radio members.

This call for a strike by
CBS news writers, producers and editors comes at the same time as the WGA is
striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers
(AMPTP), asking for, among other things, a bigger share of revenue from the
Internet.

The contract for
television and radio CBS News employees expired in April 2, 2005 and the WGA
says employees have not had a pay raise since April 2004.

—By Anna
Carugati