WGA East Members at Spotify Studios and The Ringer Reach Tentative Agreements With Spotify
NEW YORK, NY — Writers Guild of America East members at Spotify Studios (formerly Gimlet Media and Parcast) and The Ringer have both reached tentative agreements with Spotify on new collective bargaining agreements.
Two of the first podcast production companies to unionize with the WGAE, both bargaining units made important gains in wages and achieved first-of-their-kind protections against Artificial Intelligence (AI) during negotiations for their second union contracts.
The tentative agreements will now go to the Spotify Studios Union, The Ringer Union and the WGAE Council for ratification votes. Details of each collective bargaining agreement will be made public upon ratification.
The Spotify Studios Union shared, “After more than two months of bargaining, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve agreed to a new contract with Spotify. Thanks to the solidarity and strength of our union, we secured pay increases that are on average an inflation-beating 5.7% across the unit. We also made gains on severance, won new protections for employees who are on visas, and secured groundbreaking AI safeguards. To win these gains, 100% of Gimlet Union employees signed a strike pledge and were prepared to walk. 100% of Parcast Union employees signed this strike pledge in solidarity.
This contract also marks a new chapter: beginning with the ratification of this agreement, the Gimlet and Parcast Unions will join together to become The Spotify Studios Union.
Our joint unit went into these negotiations battered by brutal rounds of layoffs. So many of our talented colleagues were cast aside in a restructuring that was only necessary because of decisions made by Spotify leadership. Still, during the course of negotiations, Spotify Studios Union members came together and found a unified voice to defend our rights as workers.”
The Ringer Union bargaining committee said, “The Ringer Union bargaining committee is proud to recommend a contract that includes necessary wage increases for lower-paid members of our unit, severance and layoff protections in an industry that’s been hit so hard, and key safeguards against the creep of Artificial Intelligence into our work. We could not have won this hard-fought contract without the solidarity of our members and our fellow WGAE shop unions at Gimlet and Parcast. Our union remains united in the face of industry changes and we look forward to continuing to build solidarity through the life of this contract.”
Based in New York, Gimlet has produced such popular shows as THE JOURNAL, SCIENCE VS, EVERY LITTLE THING, REPLY ALL, THE JOURNAL, CRIME SHOW and many more. The Ringer has produced such popular shows as THE BILL SIMMONS PODCAST, NFL SHOW, NBA SHOW, BANDSPLAIN, THE REWATCHABLES and many more.
ABOUT THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST
The Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) is a labor union representing more than 7,500 members working in film, television, news, podcasts, and online media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit wgaeast.org.
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