CNN reaches record $76M settlement over labour dispute

CNN has agreed to pay $76 million in backpay as part of a record settlement with the federal labour board after the cable television network terminated the contracts of unionized camera operators in 2003.

In a statement Friday, the National Labor Relations Board said the settlement is the “largest monetary remedy” in the agency’s 85-year history. The settlement will benefit more than 300 people, officials said.

“The settlement demonstrates the Board’s continued commitment to enforcing the law and ensuring employees who were treated unfairly obtain the monetary relief ordered by the Board,” General Counsel Peter B. Robb said in the statement.

The NLRB said CNN ended its contract with a unionized subcontractor, Team Video Services, and then replaced the workers with new employees “without recognizing or bargaining with the two unions that had represented the TVS employees.”

CNN did not immediately return a request for comment.

The Associated Press