The WGA West accused its own staffers on Tuesday of engaging in violence and intimidation on picket lines, and said it would not negotiate further as the staff strike hit 71 days.
In a memo to members, the top officers of the guild said that picketers had called writers “scabs” for crossing a line to negotiate their studio contract, had hit guild staff with picket signs, and even come to the home of Ellen Stutzman, the guild’s executive director.
“Staff union strikers have targeted Ellen, showing up at her home in groups and over multiple days in a row, returning up to five times per day,” the leadership wrote. “Most of these actions are unprotected under federal labor law; some are illegal, and the attempted intimidation of the Guild’s executive director at her home is absolutely unacceptable.”
The Writers Guild Staff Union, representing about 110 employees, went on strike on Feb. 17, demanding just cause for employee discipline, better pay, and protections for seniority. Attempts since then to resolve the strike have been unproductive.
On Tuesday, the WGA West said that the two sides are at an impasse and that its most recent offer, made on April 8, is final. The guild leaders said they would meet this evening with the WGSU to explain the terms, “as well as address again why the staff union’s remaining proposals are unworkable.”
The WGSU sent a message to the WGA West last Thursday, suggesting that they could meet over the weekend to resume bargaining. Alternatively, the staff union suggested calling in mediators from the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service.
“We continue to believe that if both parties arrive to a bargaining session ready to work to a settlement we should be able to resolve our open issues within a reasonable timeframe,” wrote Brandon Tippy, the president of the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, with which WGSU is affiliated.
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