Key Points
- WGA East members at CBS News 24/7 staged a two-coast walkout after failing to reach a new contract with Paramount.
- The union cited disputes over wages and job protections despite ongoing negotiations and a strike pledge from most members.
- The walkout comes amid layoffs and uncertainty tied to Paramount’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.
Members of the Writers Guild of America’s Eastern U.S. chapter and the streaming news channel CBS News 24/7 staged a walkout on Tuesday about a week after management at Paramount failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with the employees.
The work stoppage is taking place in two locations: The CBS News headquarters in New York City and the local television station KPIX (Channel 5) in San Francisco, where the streaming network makes use of an augmented-virtual reality studio for some of its broadcasts.
“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,” a spokesperson for WGA East said in a statement. “Despite multiple days of good faith negotiations and a strike pledge signed by 95 percent 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.”
WGA East said Paramount should return to the negotiating table and hammer out a fair contract with its workers, especially in light of the company’s willingness to Netflix walks away from WBD deal after Paramount bid deemed “superior”. That deal is still pending regulatory approvals.
The walkout comes amid broader uncertainty within the newsroom, which has experienced multiple rounds of layoffs and buyouts in recent months, with additional reductions anticipated. Concerns have also emerged over potential restructuring tied to Paramount’s acquisition of WBD, a deal that could consolidate major global news operations under one corporate umbrella. (WBD is the parent company of CNN.)
“Paramount has billions to spend acquiring Warner Bros Discovery, but still hasn’t guaranteed fair wages and basic job protections for the workers who make their streaming operation run,” Beth Godvik, the Vice President of Broadcast, Cable and Streaming News at WGA East, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The union said the walkout is scheduled to conclude at 6 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, though negotiations are expected to continue.
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