CNN will pay $76 million in back pay to a group of former video contractors whose contract was terminated in 2003, according to a settlement signed Friday.

The money, which will go to more than 300 former contractors, is the largest monetary remedy in the history of the NLRB and is more money than the board typically collects in an entire year, according to its news release.

The workers were represented by two union locals of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America when CNN terminated the contract. The news channel then hired nonunion employees to do the same work, according to the NLRB.

"CNN sought to operate as a nonunion workplace and conveyed to the workers that their prior employment with (Team Video Services) and union affiliation disqualified them from employment," the NLRB said.

In a statement, CNN said that "After more than a decade of litigation, negotiation and appeals we are pleased to have resolved a longstanding legal matter."

The president of NABET-CWA, Charlie Braico, said in a statement that he hopes the settlement sends a message to other employers.

NABET-CWA had threatened to picket the Jan. 14 Democratic debate in Iowa, which will be hosted by CNN. In a press release, CWA president Chris Shelton thanked the Democratic candidates for their plans to honor the picket line.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found in 2017 that CNN did show anti-union animus in its hiring processes, but the circuit court remanded the question of back pay to the NLRB. Kannon Shanmugam, then at Williams & Connolly, handled oral arguments in that appeal.

Peter Robb, general counsel to the NLRB, celebrated the settlement in a statement.

"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," Robb said.

CNN and the union were involved in the National Labor Relations Board's alternative dispute resolution program for more than a year and a half, but that process ended in November without an agreement, according to the CWA.

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CNN to pay record $76M to end 17-year labor dispute

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