Writers Guild union makes ‘strike-ending’ offer as labor fight drags on

The labor war between the writers guild and its workers, who have been on strike for nearly six weeks, is coming to a head.

Yesterday the Writers Guild Staff Union — the group of 100 or so employees of the WGA West that have been on strike since mid-February — made what they called a “strike-ending” offer to guild.

“When we met earlier this week, we stated that we believe we need to work together to resolve the conflict that is before us,” the group wrote in a letter yesterday that was addressed to Ellen Stutzman, the WGAW’s executive director. “This strike-ending package proposal addresses both the concerns management has expressed and the core matters our membership is fighting for on the picket line.”

The Staff Union then offered the WGAW three options: Take the deal, negotiate “lingering issues” from this latest proposal, or reject it and go to arbitration. The Staff Union gave them an end-of-day deadline on Monday.

Staff Union members, the folks that handle clerical work like dues payments and residuals, have accused the WGAW of unfair labor practices, including surveilling workers for union activity, terminating union supporters and bad-faith bargaining. WGAW has denied the accusations. The guild has previously said it has met with the union more than 20 times since negotiations began last fall and that they will continue to bargain in good faith.

But according to the Staff Union, the most recent meetings between the two — coming as the WGA is in the midst of its own labor negotiations with the major studios and streaming services — have made little progress. The Staff Union had been picketing the WGAW office on Fairfax Ave near The Grove since the strike began on Feb. 17, but has since moved to the SAG/AFTRA offices nearby on Wilshire, where the Writers guild-AMPTP talks are taking place.

“Because management has chosen a war path with its own employees, we are now having to picket bargaining with the AMPTP,” the letter continued.

The WGAW has not gotten back to us when we reached out regarding this latest proposal.