American Guild's close to settlement

The Negotiating Committee for the Writers Guild of America, west and East has reached tentative agreement on a new three-year, $58-million contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, ABC, CBS, FBC, and NBC covering writers in the film, broadcast and cable industries.

"It's been a long five months since we walked away from negotiations without a contract on June 2nd," said Daniel Petrie Jr., President of the WGAw, "but it has been well worth the wait. This tentative agreement is projected to be worth almost $58 million by the end of its term, nearly double what the producers offered us on June 1st. The new agreement will fully address the needs of our health plan, ensuring us a six-month reserve at the current level of benefits by the end of the contract in 2007. We consider this a major victory that was critical to protect the health benefits of writers and their families. What's more, the companies have also agreed to recommend to the pension fund directors that they increase pensions."

There's a full report on the WGA website.