CBS News, Writers Guild Ink Deal

NEW YORK, January 10: A strike has been averted at CBS News,
with some 500 employees who are members of the Writers Guild of America inking
a new contract after working without one since April 2005.

In November, CBS newswriters voted to authorize a strike
after rejecting another CBS contract offer. That move resulted in the
cancellation of CBS’s Democratic presidential debate, after some candidates
said they would not cross picket lines. The new contract still has to be ratified
by guild members but it has been unanimously approved by the WGA-CBS
Negotiating Committee, according to published reports. It runs until April 1,
2010 and includes a 3.5-percent raise in 2008 and 2009. The contract covers
some 500 news writers, producers, editors, artists and assistants at CBS radio
and television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington.

The CBS News contract follows the signing of a similar deal
by ABC News employees.

—By Mansha Daswani