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Workers within CBS News’s online streaming division began a 24-hour bicoastal walkout on Tuesday, one week after their contract with the company expired.
The workers, who provide content for CBS News 24/7, are represented by the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE). The union alleges that management’s offers to renegotiate the contract are unacceptable, featuring terms worse than those offered in the past.
Workers are seeking better wages as well as improved working conditions. When contract negotiations broke down and the contract expired on March 9, the union alerted management that a walkout would happen, delivering a strike pledge the following day.
With its parent company, Paramount Skydance, preparing to spend over $110 billion to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (with Skydance having spent more than $8 billion to buy Paramount just last year), it is unacceptable for CBS News to treat its workers poorly, the union said.
“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 news operation run,” read a statement from WGAE Vice President of Broadcast/Cable/Streaming News Beth Godvik. “Our members are walking out today to show management they stand united in their demand for a fair contract — and the WGAE is with them every step of the way.”
The newsroom has faced a recent round of layoffs since the acquisition by Skydance. More layoffs are expected, and another round could come following the proposed purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Members are fighting to protect their livelihoods during a period of uncertainty in broadcast news,” reads a press release from WGAE explaining the walkout. “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 walkout is happening outside of the CBS News broadcast center in New York, as well as a CBS News affiliate station in San Francisco. The worker rights action is the first to occur since the Skydance buyout, and since conservative commentator Bari Weiss was named editor-in-chief of CBS News.
CBS News has faced widespread criticism since Weiss, a Trump-friendly journalist, took over. Her decision to pull a “60 Minutes” segment on the administration deporting immigrants to a super-prison in El Salvador was deemed a “political” choice by a correspondent on the program, for example.
Since Weiss’s takeover, the network has also gutted its climate team, which will likely result in a reduction of reporting on the climate crisis. And ratings have dropped dramatically since Weiss appointed right-wing journalist Tony Dokoupil to head its weeknight “CBS Evening News” program.
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