WGA Weighs Midweek Return
Writers Leadership Convene Sunday With Member Ratification To Follow
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 2/10/2008 2:54:00 AM
The Writers Guild of America, fresh from reaching a tentative deal with Hollywood studios, Sunday will mull how quickly its members should return to work following a three-month-long strike. It doesn’t look like the scribes will be back Monday, but rather sometime mid-week.
There had been much speculation that the WGA members would be immediately returning to their jobs tomorrow now that union had reached an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
But at meetings of the rank and file Saturday in New York City and Los Angeles, the WGA members indicated they wanted an official say in casting a vote to come back to work and end the strike. After that feedback, the WGA leadership seems amenable to going along with that request, one official familiar with the situation said.
At those two member meetings, support was voiced for the tentative three-year contract that the WGA has struck after a bitter battle that shut down Hollywood, a deal that gives writers increased compensation and jurisdiction for content that is used on new-media platforms.
At noon EST time today, Sunday, members of the WGA negotiating committee on both coasts will teleconference and decide if they will recommend that the contract be ratified.
Following that, at 1 p.m. EST, the WGA East Council and WGA West Board will meet to decide a number of questions: Whether they will approve the contract and send it to members for ratification; how and when a ratification vote will take place; and how to lift the union strike order that sent members to the picket lines Nov. 5.
If, as expected, the WGA leadership lets members vote on ending the strike, such a vote would take place within 48 hours. If the union members do agree to stop the strike, they then could be back to work Wednesday or so.
It’s likely a full ratification vote to formally approve the contract would then take place in 10 days. But it’s possible, one official said, that the WGA leaders could let members vote for both ending the strike and ratifying the deal at the same time.
