ThinkProgress Ratifies Writers Guild Contract
The editorial staff of digital news site ThinkProgress has ratified its first contract since its became unionized by the Writers Guild of America East last year.
The collective bargaining agreement, signed with the Center for American Progress, covers 30 employees. The first year of the master contract provides that nearly a third of the bargaining unit will receive increases of between 9% and 20% during the first year and the average increase for the bargaining unit will be 6%.
The pact includes a guaranteed minimum salary of $45,000 for reporters and editors; a $5,000 raise for bargaining unit members hired prior to 2014; for bargaining unit members earning up to $60,000 a year, a 2.5% raise; a 2% raise for unit members earning between $60,000 and $110,000; guaranteed minimum salary of $36,000 for editorial assistants; revenue sharing equal to 1% of ThinkProgress’s 2015 ad revenue divided in equal dollar amounts among the bargaining unit.
The contract also includes 12 weeks paid leave if they have a child and spells out that editorial decisions will rest with either the Editor-in-Chief or with their designee. It also says that unit members may only be terminated for just cause and that CAP must continue to pay the same percentage of the health benefit premiums that it currently pays along with continuing the provisions of its 401(k) plan and its paid time off rules.
“This collective bargaining agreement is a testament to the power of content creators who organize in a digital workplace,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “The ThinkProgress union bargaining committee came to the table with a set of reasonable demands; and we are pleased that an agreement was reached that reflects their values and worth.”
The WGA East organized four digital outlets last year — Gawker, Salon, Vice and ThinkProgress.
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