The
has reached its first contract with Sharp Entertainment, covering writer-producers for reality shows “
,” “
More Top Picks Ski
” and “Bad Ink.”
The guild unionized about 150 employees for Sharp, one of the largest nonfiction television production companies in New York, in February.
“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Sharp that includes the provisions we have won for writer-producers employed by other nonfiction TV production companies – compensation minimums, paid time off, union security, grievance and arbitration, and (perhaps most importantly) employer-provided health benefits,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of WGA East.
The WGA East has been trying to organize non-fiction production companies for years. It reached several three-year master contract agreements in July 2012 with Lion Television and Optomen Prods, but saw a setback last year at Atlas Media, where the employees voted to de-certify the guild as its bargaining rep.
2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC