National Public Radio and the union representing news and programming employees at the nonprofit radio service have agreed to a new three-year contract.
Terms of the deal reached early Sunday morning were not disclosed. A representative for the union said the deal provides for "salary increases and effectively repelled efforts to erode union protections and institute a two-tiered salary system."
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and NPR had been approaching a standoff as the union balked at management's proposals for lower minimum salaries for new hires and more flexibility in allowing union work to be contracted out to its 600 member stations, most of which use employees who are not covered by the bargaining unit.
The contract with the SAG-AFTRA members working for the Washington-based NPR, which provides the daily national news programs "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," expired June 30. The two sides agreed to another 24-hour extension after the end of a two-week extension that expired midnight Friday.
