Wednesday, May 5, 2004

The WGA in Peace and War

I am back to being highly pessimistic (up from mildly pessimistic) about the current negotiations between the A.M.P.T.P. and the Writers Guild of America. Today, the WGA put out a couple of announcements that summarize a pretty bad situation and make you wonder what anyone has been talking about in the 'round-the-clock negotiations that have been transpiring the last week or so. For the benefit of those who are wondering what it all means, here's a quick summary as I see it...

The old contract has expired and in addressing the matter of the new contract, the WGA indicated a number of areas wherein it felt there should be improvement. There's a long list of them but the three main ones are...

• The Health Plan - Health costs are going up and like almost every work-related entity that supplies health insurance to workers, the WGA has found it necessary to reduce benefits and to rewrite its rules so that fewer folks qualify. The WGA Health Plan is facing further downsizing and cutbacks if the Producers do not up their contribution.
• DVD Money - The market for DVDs is becoming far more lucrative than anyone ever imagined. Writers feel entitled to a slightly larger share of the revenues when shows and movies they authored are released on home video.
• Expanded Jurisdiction - There are a number of areas where the Guild has little or no representation. Writers of so-called "reality shows" were once covered by the WGA but Producers have done a legal end-run around the old system so that they can have their shows written non-union. The WGA has made some inroads into representing Animation Writers but at many studios, writers are without basic representation. There are a few others, and the Guild wants to expand the areas in which it represents those who write.

There are other issues but I doubt anyone would be talking Strike if those three were addressed in some manner. The offer currently on the table from the Producers offers a modest, insufficient increase in contributions to the Health Plan and nothing whatsoever in the other two. The Guild has countered with an offer to make a one-year deal (as the Screen Actors Guild recently did) instead of the customary three-year pact. The WGA is essentially offering to table its main demands and to discuss them later in the interest of not calling a strike at this time, thereby enabling "the town" (as we lovingly call it) to keep on working.

I'm guessing this is primarily a p.r. offer from our side, made with the idea that if a strike does occur, we'll be able to say, "We were willing to keep everyone working. It was the Producers that forced a strike." I don't think a one-year deal is really in the interests of either side. From our standpoint, you have to ask, "Why would they give us anything we want in one year that they won't give us now?" They would also have a year to prepare for a strike, stockpiling scripts and getting some shows ahead in production. From the Producers' side, a one-year extension would place our renegotiation date close to when the current Screen Actors Guild deal expires (June 30, 2005) and the current Directors Guild contract expires (July 1, 2005). It's hard to imagine they would want to have to juggle all three demanding Health Plan increases and more DVD money at the same time.

What will happen next? Presumably, if the A.M.P.T.P. bites on our proposed extension, all of this is deferred for a year. It's possible but I doubt it will happen. If they refuse, our Board of Directors will ask the membership for a Strike Authorization vote. I honestly don't know what the mood of the Guild is in this regard. If the Board gets a vote of 80% or above, we might be able to mount a credible strike threat and force the Producers back to the bargaining table with a little more flexibility. If we get a strike vote of 65% or less, we'll either see a short strike or no strike and we'll end up taking the current rotten offer, perhaps with a few minor or cosmetic improvements. A vote between 65% and 80% is more uncertain. I don't know what will happen but like I said, I'm back to Orange Alert on the Pessimism Scale.

• Posted at 6:27 PM · LINK