WGA Strikes Tentative Deal With PBS, Avoiding Impending Work Stoppage

The Writers Guild of America has a tentative three-year deal with PBS member stations.

The union announced the new Public Television Freelance Agreement Friday, hours after the current contract expiration, which could have led to a strike if the parties hadn’t been able to hammer out a new one in time. Earlier this week, the 94-member bargaining unit authorized a strike.

Now, the unit will vote to ratify the new agreement. More specific deal points are expected in the coming days, prior to that vote.

For the first time, the WGA says it was able to secure union protections for PBS animation writers, who were previously not covered under the Public Television Freelance Agreement. This week, Deadline revealed that more than 200 PBS animation writers signed a pledge of solidarity, promising not to cross their colleagues’ picket line.

The latest contract also includes paid parental leave, AI protections, expanded union protections for made-for-new-media programs, increased residual payments for reuse on streaming services, industry-standard raises, and easier paths for members of writing teams to access health coverage, according to the union.

“THIRTEEN, GBH, and PBS SoCal are pleased to have reached an agreement with WGA East,” the member stations said in a joint statement Friday. “We look forward to continuing our work to deliver trusted public media to our audiences.”