CBS News 24/7 Members Hold Bicoastal Walkouts as Contract with CBS/Paramount Expires

Writers Guild of America East members at CBS News 24/7 held a 24-hour walkout Tuesday after management failed to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement with the 60-member bargaining unit. The current CBS News 24/7 union contract expired March 9.

The CBS News 24/7 Union held bicoastal walkouts and rallies at CBS News Broadcast Center in Manhattan, NY, and at KPIX-TV CBS News Bay Area in San Francisco, CA. Members are fighting to protect their livelihoods during a period of uncertainty in broadcast news. Layoffs, editorial interference and political pressure have all become existential threats following the Paramount Skydance merger, and those same concerns have escalated with a possible merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. The bargaining unit is demanding fair pay, respect and a sustainable work-life balance.  

The CBS News 24/7 Union bargaining committee and contract action team said, “CBS News 24/7 journalists are walking off the job on both coasts today because management refuses to agree to a new contract with essential work protections and fair wages. Despite multiple days of good faith negotiations and a strike pledge signed by 95% of our members to emphasize the seriousness of our demands, management continues to offer us worse terms than in our last contracts. We chose this field to cover the news, but we believe this work stoppage is necessary to achieve a fair contract. We eagerly await an acceptable contract offer from Paramount—which just shelled out tens of billions of dollars to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.”  Read more here!