The Writers Guild of America East and ABC have reached a tentative agreement with WGAE-ABC news employees, who have been working under a contract that expired more than two years ago. From the WGA East press release:

''We're pleased to secure, finally, a fair contract for our members. More importantly, this contract covers all our WGAE-ABC news members and allows all of them, including the writer/producers at WABC-TV, to remain in the Guild and continue to enjoy the benefits and protections of the union ... We expect the membership to ratify this contract, and we can now continue our work of delivering quality news to the public.''

The agreement will be put to a membership vote in New York and Washington D.C. for ratification December 13, 2007. The inability of the WGA and CBS resulted yesterday in the cancellation of the Democrat Party debate that was scheduled for December 10 in Los Angeles.