The WGA West accused its own staffers on Tuesday of engaging in violence and intimidation on picket lines, and said it would not negotiate further as the staff strike hit 71 days.
In a memo to members, the top officers of the guild said that picketers had called writers “scabs” for crossing a line to negotiate their studio contract, had hit guild staff with picket signs, and even come to the home of Ellen Stutzman, the guild’s executive director.
“Staff union strikers have targeted Ellen, showing up at her home in groups and over multiple days in a row, returning up to five times per day,” the leadership wrote. “Most of these actions are unprotected under federal labor law; some are illegal, and the attempted intimidation of the Guild’s executive director at her home is absolutely unacceptable.”
The Writers Guild Staff Union, representing about 110 employees, went on strike on Feb. 17, demanding just cause for employee discipline, better pay, and protections for seniority. Attempts since then to resolve the strike have been unproductive.
On Tuesday, the WGA West said that the two sides are at an impasse and that its most recent offer, made on April 8, is final. The guild leaders said they would meet this evening with the WGSU to explain the terms, “as well as address again why the staff union’s remaining proposals are unworkable.”
The WGSU sent a message to the WGA West last Thursday, suggesting that they could meet over the weekend to resume bargaining. Alternatively, the staff union suggested calling in mediators from the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service.
“We continue to believe that if both parties arrive to a bargaining session ready to work to a settlement we should be able to resolve our open issues within a reasonable timeframe,” wrote Brandon Tippy, the president of the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, with which WGSU is affiliated.
The WGA West leaders argued in the memo that the staffers’ remaining proposals are impractical. The leaders said that staffers have demanded that seniority be the sole factor in determining layoffs and promotions, which would allow more senior staffers to “bump” those who were hired more recently, even across departments.
“The Guild’s goal should be to have the best employee in any given position, regardless of the duration of their employment,” the guild leaders wrote.
The staff union has also sought a wage scale that would increase with seniority. According to the WGA West, the staffers rejected a proposal modeled on the WGA East contract.
“The Guild’s proposal has minimums for each classification that increase over the term of the contract, annual raises for all staff, and additional increases based on longevity,” the leaders wrote. “The Guild spends roughly $9 million annually on salaries for the staff in the bargaining unit, and the first year increases we have offered amount to $800,000 in additional pay.”
The WGA West leaders — Michele Mulroney, Travis Donnelly, Peter Murrieta and Stutzman — also accused the staffers of interfering with recent negotiations between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The staff union picketed outside the SAG-AFTRA building, where those negotiations were held for the first two weeks, blocking entrances to the parking garage and forcing negotiators to cross a picket line to get inside.
The leadership alleged that the staffers had “acted in an aggressive manner completely out of line with how writers have always operated during WGA strikes.”
The memo also alleged that a PNWSU official shoved the WGA’s outside attorney to try to block him from entering the building.
Meanwhile, the leaders reported that the core business of the guild — paying residuals, arbitrating credit disputes, and so on — continues, though the guild’s offices, theater and library remain closed.
“A fair contract is available to the staff when they are ready to accept it,” the leaders wrote.
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