ABC News Agrees to AI Protections for Writers in Latest Contract
Staffers who belong to the Writers Guild of America East have voted to ratify a contract that offers some employment safeguards if the newsroom adopts the technology, the union announced on Tuesday. That includes an agreement that the company will not lay off current staff employees due to the use of generative AI.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
ABC News' Rachel Scott Adds White House Role as Network Sets D.C. Assignments (Exclusive)
2025 Writers Guild Awards Nominations: 'Challengers,' 'My Old Ass,' 'A Complete Unknown,' 'Dune: Part Two' Among Films Nominated
L.A. Local News Ratings Go High With Wildfires Coverage
The new three-year pact additionally requires management to give union members advance notice if the company plans to make the use of generative AI systems a requirement of their jobs. The company will be obliged to negotiate any impacts of the technology with the union and meet with the labor group semi-annually to review its employment of the technology.
In a statement, representatives of the ABC News Union called the AI protections 'groundbreaking' and said that the contract additionally 'makes significant improvements to all of our benefits.'
The contract offers members a minimum pay increase of 3.5 percent every year of the deal, with an additional raise of more than 17 percent for desk assistants in year one. Benefits have been bolstered, with the company agreeing to an extra 1.5 percent in contributions to the Health Fund and the addition of paid parental leave for temporary employees in their second year on the job, beginning in year two of the contract.
As a result of the deal, temporary employees will have a lower threshold to meet in order to receive comp days and Juneteenth will be added has a holiday. The parties also agreed that the company will credit writers whose work for broadcast is repurposed for platforms like streaming and the ABC News website, which are not covered under the contract.
'Now more than ever, we need journalists who can report and present the news while they are protected in their workplace,' said WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen in a statement. 'A union contract is the only thing that ensures that protection. Our members and staff fought hard for this contract, and they deserve everything they won.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started
Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023
Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
UCSF doctor reinstated at FDA less than 2 weeks after resigning amid MAGA backlash
A divisive UCSF oncologist has reportedly been reinstated at the FDA less than two weeks after he resigned amid criticism from President Donald Trump's allies. Multiple media outlets on Saturday cited Health and Human Services Department officials confirming the reinstatement of Dr. Vinay Prasad, which was first reported by Endpoints News, a biotech-focused news organization. Spokespeople for HHS, which oversees the Food and Drug Administration, did not immediately respond to inquiries from the Chronicle about the news. Prasad resigned as the FDA's chief medical and scientific officer in late July after right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., accused him of being too liberal. He also drew backlash for criticizing the FDA's 2023 approval of a gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease that affects boys, who often do not survive past their 20s. In his role at the FDA overseeing vaccines, Prasad announced in May that the agency would limit updated COVID-19 vaccine access to seniors and people with certain people with certain medical conditions. Previously, the FDA had recommended annual COVID shots for all Americans over 6 months old. On social media, Loomer criticized Prasad's reinstatement, calling him a 'longtime progressive Marxist.' 'In the coming weeks, I will be ramping up my exposes (sic) of officials within HHS and FDA so the American people can see more of the pay for play rot themselves and how rabid Trump haters continue to be hired in the Trump administration,' she wrote. 'Should be a good time.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Armenians caught between hope and distrust after accord with Azerbaijan
The streets were almost deserted in Yerevan Saturday because of the summer heat, but at shaded parks and fountains, Armenians struggled to make sense of what the accord signed a day earlier in Washington means for them. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, two Caucasian countries embroiled in a territorial conflict since the fall of the USSR, met Friday and signed a peace treaty under the watch of US President Donald Trump. In Yerevan, however, few of the people asked by AFP were enthusiastic. - 'Acceptable' - "It's a good thing that this document was signed because Armenia has no other choice," said Asatur Srapyan, an 81-year-old retiree. He believes Armenia hasn't achieved much with this draft agreement, but it's a step in the right direction. "We are very few in number, we don't have a powerful army, we don't have a powerful ally behind us, unlike Azerbaijan," he said. "This accord is a good opportunity for peace." Maro Huneyan, a 31-year-old aspiring diplomat, also considers the pact "acceptable", provided it does not contradict her country's constitution. "If Azerbaijan respects all the agreements, it's very important for us. But I'm not sure it will keep its promises and respect the points of the agreement," she added. - 'endless concessions' - But Anahit Eylasyan, 69, opposes the agreement and, more specifically, the plan to create a transit zone crossing Armenia to connect the Nakhchivan region to the rest of Azerbaijan. "We are effectively losing control of our territory. It's as if, in my own apartment, I had to ask a stranger if I could go from one room to another," she explains. She also hopes not to see Russia, an ally of Armenia despite recent tensions, expelled from the region." Anahit also criticizes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for "making decisions for everyone" and for his "endless concessions to Azerbaijan". "We got nothing in exchange, not our prisoners, nor our occupied lands, nothing. It's just a piece of paper to us," she fumes. Shavarsh Hovhannisyan, a 68-year-old construction engineer, agrees, saying the agreement "is just an administrative formality that brings nothing to Armenia." "We can't trust Azerbaijan," Hovhannisyan asserted, while accusing Pashinyan of having "turned his back" on Russia and Iran. "It's more of a surrender document than a peace treaty, while Trump only thinks about his image, the Nobel Prize." - 'More stability... in the short term' - According to President Trump, Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed "to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity." For Olesya Vartanyan, an independent researcher specializing in the Caucasus, the Washington agreement "certainly brings greater stability and more guarantees for the months, if not years, to come." But given the long-lasting tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, "I fear that we will have to plan only for the very short term," she said. mkh-asy-pop/bds/gv/tc
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Armenians caught between hope and distrust after accord with Azerbaijan
The streets were almost deserted in Yerevan Saturday because of the summer heat, but at shaded parks and fountains, Armenians struggled to make sense of what the accord signed a day earlier in Washington means for them. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, two Caucasian countries embroiled in a territorial conflict since the fall of the USSR, met Friday and signed a peace treaty under the watch of US President Donald Trump. In Yerevan, however, few of the people asked by AFP were enthusiastic. - 'Acceptable' - "It's a good thing that this document was signed because Armenia has no other choice," said Asatur Srapyan, an 81-year-old retiree. He believes Armenia hasn't achieved much with this draft agreement, but it's a step in the right direction. "We are very few in number, we don't have a powerful army, we don't have a powerful ally behind us, unlike Azerbaijan," he said. "This accord is a good opportunity for peace." Maro Huneyan, a 31-year-old aspiring diplomat, also considers the pact "acceptable", provided it does not contradict her country's constitution. "If Azerbaijan respects all the agreements, it's very important for us. But I'm not sure it will keep its promises and respect the points of the agreement," she added. - 'endless concessions' - But Anahit Eylasyan, 69, opposes the agreement and, more specifically, the plan to create a transit zone crossing Armenia to connect the Nakhchivan region to the rest of Azerbaijan. "We are effectively losing control of our territory. It's as if, in my own apartment, I had to ask a stranger if I could go from one room to another," she explains. She also hopes not to see Russia, an ally of Armenia despite recent tensions, expelled from the region." Anahit also criticizes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for "making decisions for everyone" and for his "endless concessions to Azerbaijan". "We got nothing in exchange, not our prisoners, nor our occupied lands, nothing. It's just a piece of paper to us," she fumes. Shavarsh Hovhannisyan, a 68-year-old construction engineer, agrees, saying the agreement "is just an administrative formality that brings nothing to Armenia." "We can't trust Azerbaijan," Hovhannisyan asserted, while accusing Pashinyan of having "turned his back" on Russia and Iran. "It's more of a surrender document than a peace treaty, while Trump only thinks about his image, the Nobel Prize." - 'More stability... in the short term' - According to President Trump, Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed "to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity." For Olesya Vartanyan, an independent researcher specializing in the Caucasus, the Washington agreement "certainly brings greater stability and more guarantees for the months, if not years, to come." But given the long-lasting tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, "I fear that we will have to plan only for the very short term," she said. mkh-asy-pop/bds/gv/tc
