COMP NEWS – Members of the Writers Guild of America, Hollywood’s largest writers union, voted nearly unanimously in support of a strike amidst negotiations for better contracts.

Hollywood’s writers have spoken: They are prepared to strike if necessary.

 

In a record-setting vote that concluded on Monday, 97.85 percent of eligible members of the Writers Guild West and East voted to authorize a strike, while 2.15 percent voted against. A total of 9,218 writers participated in the vote, or nearly 79 percent of members eligible to take part. According to the guild, this level of participation and support is unprecedented for a strike authorization vote for the union.

 

These results do not ensure a work stoppage will happen, but instead give the union the option to strike if labor leaders decide one is necessary in ongoing negotiations with studios and streamers over a new contract.

 

“Our membership has spoken. You have expressed your collective strength, solidarity, and the demand for meaningful change in overwhelming numbers,” the WGA negotiating committee said in a message to members on Monday. “Armed with this demonstration of unity and resolve, we will continue to work at the negotiating table to achieve a fair contract for all writers.”

Union leaders will likely use the wide approval for a strike in order to bargain for better pay.

Union leaders will almost certainly use the wide margin by which members supported the strike authorization as leverage in ongoing talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the film and TV production arms of companies like Disney, Netflix and Amazon.

 

Meanwhile, earlier on Monday, as the Writers Guild of America prepared to release the results of the vote, the AMPTP said in a statement that member support for a potential work stoppage was “inevitable.”

 

“A strike authorization vote has always been part of the WGA’s plan, announced before the parties even exchanged proposals. Its inevitable ratification should come as no surprise to anyone,” the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said in the Monday statement, prior to the results going public. 

 

The AMPTP added that, while its goal is to reach a “fair and reasonable agreement,” a deal “is only possible if the Guild is committed to turning its focus to serious bargaining by engaging in full discussions of the issues with the Companies and searching for reasonable compromises.” 

To read more about the WGA’s plans to authorize a writer’s strike, click here.

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