FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Pamela Greenwalt, SAG-AFTRA Chief Communications & Marketing Officer
pamela.greenwalt@sagaftra.org
(323) 549-6872
SAG-AFTRA Members at NPR Ratify Successor Contract
WASHINGTON D.C. (July 17, 2015) --- SAG-AFTRA members at National Public Radio have overwhelmingly approved a new two-year contract that includes a 2.5% pay raise on Jan 1, 2016 and another 2.5% pay raise on Jan 1, 2017.
The contract ratification took place over the past week and covers 400 NPR on-air and off-air public media professionals represented by SAG-AFTRA. Negotiations began on April 22, 2015 in Washington D.C. and concluded on July 1. The new agreement was solidified as the members of NPR organized and flooded Twitter with their photos and descriptions of their jobs, accompanied by the trending hashtag, #WeMakeNPR.
“I want to send my congratulations to the members and negotiators in bargaining this new contract. The overwhelming vote by the membership at NPR is another victory for the merged SAG-AFTRA,” said SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard. “The members of the NPR bargaining team, the largest broadcast unit represented by SAG-AFTRA, showed tremendous creativity in their global solidarity social media campaign. It was truly inspiring to see their efforts pay off and I commend them.”
Chief Shop Steward and negotiator Richard Harris said, “Our union has built a strong collective bargaining agreement over many years, and it remains strong today. The support and solidarity from the SAG-AFTRA members gave us the strength that we needed to push this deal to a successful conclusion.”
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director David White said, “SAG-AFTRA members, with the support of our exceptional staff in Washington D.C., were able to negotiate a solid successor agreement with NPR that includes preserving important benefits and pay increases. I congratulate our negotiating team as well as our amazing NPR members on their new contract. I am particularly grateful for this agreement since, like so many Americans, I love listening to our members on NPR!”
Contract highlights include:
- Retaining overtime and related pay for all members of the unit;
- The 403(b) retirement plan will remain fixed at 7% of pay and overtime for the next two years;
- Union-guaranteed benefits remain intact in the contract;
- NPR agreed to pay 70 percent of the total health insurance premiums, with the remaining 30 percent to be paid by employees.
In addition to NPR, SAG-AFTRA represents several units of public media professionals across the country, including Chicago Public Media, KPBS in San Diego, KPCC in Los Angeles, KQED in San Francisco, WNYC in New York, KPLU in Seattle and WETA-TV/FM in Washington, D.C.
About SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. With national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide, SAG-AFTRA members work together to secure the strongest protections for media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org. Follow SAG-AFTRA on Twitter (twitter.com/sagaftra), YouTube (youtube.com/sagaftra) and Facebook (facebook.com/sagaftra).
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