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WGA East Ratifies First Union Contract With Pod Save America Producer Crooked Media

Writers Guild of America East members have unanimously ratified their first union contract at “Pod Save America” producer Crooked Media.

The 61-member Crooked Media bargaining team achieved a three-year agreement that includes an immediate 15% increase to base salary, just cause and successorship, protections against generative Artificial Intelligence and improvements to healthcare and other benefits, per the union.

On Aug. 9, Crooked Media and WGA East reached an agreement after more than a year of negotiations, and the writers guild withdrew allegations that the company had taken “union-busting” actions. The resolution came after the WGA staged a one-day walkout at Crooked Media Aug. 5 to protest lack of progress on a deal.

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Crooked Media was founded in 2017 by a trio of former Obama administration aides: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor.

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Under their new contract made via WGA East, Crooked Media workers join a union that also represents employees from podcast production companies including Pineapple Street Studios, the iHeart Podcast Network, Pushkin Industries, The Ringer and Spotify Studios (formerly Gimlet and Parcast).

“Today, members of the Crooked Media Workers Union ratified its first contract with a unanimous yes and 100 percent participation,” representatives for the Crooked Media Workers Union said in a statement Thursday. “It’s one thing to talk about the power of unions; it’s another to actually do the work. We’re pleased to have secured a fair, progressive contract, and for those wins to set a new standard for the industry at large. If we inspire workers at one other company to stand up together, fight for each other, and insist on what they deserve, this has all been worth it.”

WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen added: “Our members at Crooked Media won a contract that will set a benchmark for all workers in the podcast industry. We’re proud to see our members secure a hard-fought collective bargaining agreement that will support them in the essential work they do – especially in the middle of a presidential election cycle.”

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Update: 2024-09-27

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