Vice Media and the Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) announced on Sunday that postproduction workers at Vice have ratified a new labor contract that will guarantee a 40-hour workweek, significantly increase all employees’ hourly rates, and provide further raises for lower-paid employees.
Vice’s postproduction staff and freelance workers will see the 3-year contract have an impact on their hours and wages. It was approved by 97% of Vice members. Post-production staff at the lowest end of the pay scale will be given an immediate raise of 48.4% on their hourly rate and 8% on their guaranteed net weekly salary.
Future increases are also possible for employees who earn less that $200,000 per year but have wages that exceed the scale. Covered employees will also receive a $750 bonus for ratification.
“I believe I speak for all of us when I say we’re incredibly pleased with the achievements we made with this contract, in particular the implementation of a forty-hour week,”Ilaria Polisonetti, an editor of “Vice News Tonight” and a member of the union’s negotiating committee in a statement. “Behind every piece of content on a screen there are hundreds of talented workers losing sleep and time well-spent with their loved ones. Today we said enough is enough, a different way of working in film and TV is possible. I hope what we accomplished here can be a stepping stone towards reclaiming the healthier work-life balance that is so badly needed in our industry.”
“We are pleased that, in VICE, we had a bargaining partner who recognized that time off the clock is critical to workers’ well-being,” said Cathy Repola, National Executive Director of the Editors Guild and the union’s chief negotiator in these talks. “Our first union contract at VICE just over three years ago broke new ground with unprecedented guarantees that an employer respect its employees’ gendered pronouns, and we hope this new agreement also proves precedent-setting. Other employers in our industry should aspire to offer their employees the sort of sustainable, healthy hours our members at VICE will now enjoy.”
The deal between Vice and IATSE 700 comes three months after a bargaining agreement between IATSE and Hollywood’s major studios was approved by union members by the narrowest of margins, averting a strike that would have shut down thousands of film and TV productions. With 51.9% approval, the Editors Guild was among the IATSE locals who narrowly voted for the contract.
The agreement comes just five week after Vice Media signed a new contract for the Writers Guild of America East. This contract consolidates all labor agreements for writers at Vice News and Vice Digital under one unified agreement. It increases minimum salaries to $63,000 in three years.