Hollywood is just hours away from closing. If the Writers Guild of America and the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance cannot strike a new deal by midnight on Monday, May 1, the agreement between the groups will expire and the WGA will likely launch an immediate strike. Ahead of the looming lockout, WGA officials circulated an email Sunday asking union members to picket in case the strike begins this week.
“The greatest leverage we collectively have for striking is to withdraw our workers,” the union wrote in an email to its members Sunday afternoon. diverse). “The sit-in is a basic tactic to prove we’re all in this together, and that until the strike is resolved, it’s not business as usual.”
WGA members overwhelmingly agreed to strike earlier this month if negotiations are not fruitful. In the vote that took place in mid-April, 97.85 percent of WGA members voted to authorize a strike if WGA officials deemed it necessary in the event a new agreement was not signed.
Shortly after the vote, a statement issued by AMPTP claimed that the WGA had intended a strike throughout the entire negotiation.
“Voting to authorize a strike has always been part of the WGA’s plan, announced before the parties exchanged motions. The inevitable ratification should not come as a surprise to anyone,” the group’s statement read.
The most recent strike occurred during the last months of 2007 through 2008, severely affecting network television at the time. Then, the scriptwriters took a 100-day hiatus from writing, forcing delays and cutting episodes for almost every show on television.
What are the controversies about the new WGA contract?
Due to the rise in popularity of shows and movies on streaming, the WGA hopes to increase the royalties and residual payments from those shows placed on streaming platforms to an amount similar to network television. Other points include public compensation, with the writers’ guild looking for higher wages everywhere, and regulating the size of writer’s rooms in an effort to help keep more writers employed.
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