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At the start of what is likely to be a busy news year amid Trump’s return to the Oval Office, ABC News‘ unionized writers have secured new protections governing the use of generative AI in their workplace.
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.
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.”