More than two years after negotiations began, iHeartMedia workers represented by the Writers Guild of America East have ratified their first labor contract.
Ninety-nine percent of the 100-member group voted to ratify the contract in a recent vote, while one percent voted against. The WGA East represents writers, producers, editors and other people who work in storytelling at the audio company.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to iHeartMedia for comment.
The new agreement institutes a minimum base salary of $63,000 for workers in Los Angeles and New York and of $58,000 for workers in other areas, according to the union. The contract’s annual minimum wage increases are 3 percent in the first year of the contract and two percent in the second and third years, and the agreement provides time and a half pay for work assigned on a holiday. The deal preserves a 401(k) matching program and initiates just cause, a maximum of 16 weeks of severance and the right to bargain over the use of AI at work. The contract additionally provides for “greater transparency on show metrics and spending,” per the union.
The iHeart Podcast Network’s bargaining unit said in a statement that they felt that “we’ve landed on a contract that we feel greatly improves our working and every day lives.” The unit continued, “We are excited to begin life under a union contract and to continue to advocate for our entire unit.”
The road to the deal has been bumpy, with the union accusing management of offering “insultingly low salary and benefits proposals” over the course of a long bargaining period, taking the company to task on X (formerly Twitter) with various claims and filing an unfair labor practices charge in April that alleged intimidation and attempts to interfere with staffers’ rights to discuss their working conditions. (iHeartMedia did not respond to THR‘s request for comment on the unfair labor practices charge at the time, and the charge was withdrawn earlier in June.) In late May, the union suggested it might initiate an unfair labor practice strike if an agreement was not reached in a timely manner. That strike was never called, as management and the union reached a deal on May 31.
In a statement, WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said the “sets a new bar for people who work in the podcast industry” and that the union “will continue to fight to raise industry standards in podcasting.” The WGA East also represents audio podcast workers at Crooked Media, Spotify Studios, The Ringer, Pushkin Industries and Pineapple Street Media.