Higher Pay Coming to DGA News, Sports and Operations Members

The Director’s Guild of America has reached a tentative agreement with television networks ABC, CBS and NBC for wage and other increases for news, sports and operations employees.

The three-year contract covers staff and freelancers who work for the aforementioned television networks and at a number of their locally-owned affiliate stations.

The Network Agreement — which covers wage, pension and other gains — is separate from the union’s “Basic Agreement,” which is also negotiated every three years.

-Wages and fees will increase by 2 percent in the first year of the contract, and 2.5 percent in both the second and third years for a compounded wage increase of 7.2 percent over the full three-year term of the contract.

In the second and third years of the contract, the DGA will also have the right to divert 0.5 percent of the negotiated wage increase to either the DGA pension or health plan.

“In an environment in which local stations, sports and news operations face ever-increasing pressures, it is a testament to both the skill of the Negotiations Committee and to the high value that our members continue to bring to news, sports and operations that the Committee was able to negotiate this agreement,” DGA President Paris Barclay said in a statement.