Staff members at the Writers Guild of America West (WGA) walked off the job Tuesday, launching a strike just weeks before the guild is set to begin negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Roughly 100 of the guild’s 150 employees are affected by the work stoppage. The staffers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, authorized the strike last month after contract talks stalled.
In a statement, the Writers Guild Staff Union said it was calling an unfair labor practice strike, alleging that WGA West management surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in surface bargaining without serious intent to reach an agreement on key issues.
The timing is significant. The WGA is scheduled to begin bargaining a new contract with the AMPTP next month. Guild leadership has indicated that negotiations with studios and streamers are expected to proceed despite the internal labor dispute.
Picket lines formed Tuesday afternoon outside WGA West headquarters, with staffers carrying signs reading “WGA Live Your Labor Values” and “It’s Giving AMPTP.” Scabby the Rat, the inflatable symbol commonly seen at labor protests, was stationed at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue.
Missy Brown, co-chair of the staff union’s bargaining committee, said management had stopped making meaningful movement at the table. “There’s just been no real engagement,” she said, describing the most recent session as a clear signal that talks had hit a wall.
While wages are part of the dispute, the gap between the sides is narrower than the rhetoric suggests. The guild has proposed a $57,000 minimum salary and multi-year increases of 3 percent annually, with total raises ranging from 5 to 36 percent depending on classification. The staff union is seeking a $59,737 minimum salary and higher guaranteed increases in the first year, including a 7.5 percent retroactive bump and 5 percent minimum raises in subsequent years.
But much of the friction centers on structural protections. The union is pushing for stricter just-cause timelines, broader arbitration rights that would allow staff to challenge written warnings and performance plans, stronger seniority-based promotion language, and carve-outs from the standard no-strike clause that would permit job action during the life of the contract.
The two sides have also exchanged proposals on artificial intelligence, with the guild stating it has no intention of deploying generative AI and committing to bargaining over any future use, while the staff union seeks stronger language to prevent unintended uses of productivity monitoring or evaluation.
In a statement posted on its website, WGA West said it would continue bargaining in good faith and disputed the union’s allegations of unfair labor practices. The guild noted that executive staff and managers involved in the upcoming AMPTP negotiations are not on strike and said those talks would be minimally impacted.
However, the strike is already affecting day-to-day operations. WGA West headquarters is closed to members and the public, and screenings at the Writers Guild Theater have been suspended. Two previously scheduled meetings to brief members on AMPTP negotiating priorities were canceled. The guild’s annual awards, set for March 8, have not yet been addressed.
The staff union has said that 64 percent of members earn less than $84,850 annually and is also seeking expanded holidays, increased retirement contributions, and greater flexibility around remote work.
Guild leadership countered that it has presented comprehensive proposals during 19 negotiating sessions since September, including enhanced union protections and compensation increases. The WGA West board and negotiating committee, the statement said, will continue preparing for the AMPTP talks while management staff handles core guild functions such as processing dues and distributing residuals.
Staffers question how long that arrangement can hold. “There are dues that have to be processed and residual checks that have to go out,” Brown said. “It’s a lot of work.”
The staff union organized last spring and began negotiating its first contract in September. Union leaders say they did not anticipate that talks would extend into the critical window before AMPTP negotiations.
The WGA East staff union, based in New York and represented by a different labor organization, issued a statement in solidarity, urging WGA West management to return to the table and bargain in good faith.
How long the strike will last remains uncertain. But with major studio negotiations looming, the guild now finds itself navigating internal labor unrest at a pivotal moment for the industry.
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