Tensions are starting to boil over between the Writers Guild of America West and its striking staffers, who have been without paychecks for going on six weeks.
The Writers Guild Staff Union has been picketing outside SAG-AFTRA headquarters, where the WGA is holding negotiations with the major studios. On Thursday morning, many of the staffers shouted at the writers who serve on the WGA negotiating committee and at WGA managers as they entered the building.
“Scab! Scab! Scab!” one demonstrator yelled, while others chanted “Shame on you!”
The staffers have also been blocking driveways, forcing WGA managers to wait for several minutes before entering or exiting the SAG-AFTRA parking garage.
On Wednesday night, WGSU members were blocking a car at an exit, when someone in the next car behind began threatening the picketers. According to WGSU, the person — who was not affiliated with the WGA — got out and threatened to “kill” one of the staffers.
The staffers then related what had happened to Sean Graham, the WGA West general counsel, who exited shortly thereafter. Graham has been leading negotiations with the staff on behalf of the union.
“Take the deal,” Graham told them, according to the WGSU.
“WGAW management does not value us,” the WGSU said in a statement on Instagram. “They do not care about our wellbeing or about our safety on the picket lines, which they have crossed every day this week.”
The WGSU represents about 110 employees of the WGA West, including attorneys, contracts and residuals staffers, and researchers. They have been on strike for 39 days, demanding better pay and job protections, among other items.
At the same time, the WGA has been negotiating at SAG-AFTRA headquarters with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a new contract for some 11,000 TV and film writers.
The encounter outside SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Thursday morning was the most bellicose confrontation thus far. A video of the incident shows management and the negotiating committee walking single-file through a cacophany of WGA staffers, with a bottleneck forming when they were temporarily blocked at the building entrance.
“You guys want a fair contract for your workers,” one picketer shouted through a bullhorn. “Why don’t you want a fair contract for all workers?”
“Fair contract!” another yelled. “Shame! Shame! Shame!” said another.
A few hours later, the WGSU sent management a 49-page contract proposal, which it said included several major revisions that were designed to bring the strike to a close. Among the key sticking points is a WGSU proposal for a seniority-based pay scale and seniority protection in the layoff process.
“The Writers Guild Staff Union has been on strike for over five weeks, making this one of the longest
strikes of union staff in U.S. history,” the union said in an attached cover letter. “Because management has chosen a war path with its own employees, we are now having to picket bargaining with the AMPTP.”
The staffers gave Ellen Stutzman, the executive director of WGA West, until midnight on Monday to respond. As of Friday morning there had been no response.
If management was unwilling to accept the latest offer or negotiate based on it, the WGSU suggested that the dispute could be submitted for binding arbitration at the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service or to the American Arbitration Association.
Leave a Reply