November 22, 2019
DGA members have voted overwhelmingly to ratify the new three-year Network Agreements. The three-year collective bargaining agreements between the DGA and ABC, CBS and NBC covers staff and freelance members employed in news, sports, local and operations at the companies’ television networks and many of their owned local television stations. Voting, which closed on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 came after the DGA National Board’s unanimous approval on Saturday, October 19, 2019. The Network Agreements are separate from the Guild’s Basic Agreement and the Freelance Live and Tape Television and are also negotiated every three years.
The negotiations between the DGA’s Network Negotiations Committee and ABC, CBS and NBC began in September in New York and concluded in early October. The Committee was headed by headed by Co-Chairs Brett Holey (Senior Director, NBC News), Lily Olszewski (Director, ABC’s Good Morning America) and Scott Berger (Associate Director, CBS Evening News) together with DGA Eastern Executive Director Neil Dudich.
The new contracts, which will cover the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023, incorporate wage and pension increases, as well as other gains. New provisions include:
- Increased wages and fees by 2.5% in each of the three years of the Agreement for a compounded wage increase of 7.7% over the term.
- The right to divert up to 2% of the negotiated wage increase to the DGA Pension or Health Plan during the term of the Agreement.
- Provisions securing work opportunities for members who work in sports – and a number of other important gains.
photo by DGA staff