WGA Nets Small Victories At Strike Locations, And With 1st Studio Meeting In Months Scheduled

After nearly 100 days on the picket line, the pressure the Writers Guild is applying on various entities seems to be working, somewhat.

Last week, after repeated complaints by the WGA that picketers were being relegated to a back gate at Radford Studio Center, one that many considered dangerous for participants given the street traffic and lack of shade during the dangerous Los Angeles heatwave, the owner of the studio, Hackman Capital Partners, reversed course and is now allowing picketing at its main entrance.

Picketing at the main gate of that lot began Monday, July 31st.

Late on Monday night, NBC Universal, who had torn up sidewalks to make picketing inconvenient and dangerous given the traffic along a well-traveled road in front of the studio, and who cut back shade-bearing trees, relented and repaved portions of the long-closed off walkway and put out traffic cones out to curb speeding cars.

And Tuesday night, the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) reached out to the WGA and asked to meet. That meeting is set for this afternoon.

This marks the first time, since May 1^st, that reps from the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) will come together to have any kind of discussion.

Many feel that NBC Universal’s recent actions — restoring portions of the sidewalk and putting out cones — came as a result the pressure of a special rally at the lot, which included WGA members, SAG representatives, and a member of congress.

Taking the mic at the event first was NBCU WGA Lot Coordinator, Erin Conley, who said, “Writers would love nothing more than to be back at work, but the studios refused to come back to the table so even though it’s scary and hot and draining, we show up every day. And we will continue to until we get the deal we deserve, but this particular studio has certainly found ways to make it even harder in every turn.”

She pointed out that at the NBC Universal lot, “Slowly and systematically, our sidewalks were taken from us by construction. We no longer had any walkway between the five gates. And then there was, ‘the tree-trimming heard around the world.’ To the CEO of Universal, I have to ask. ‘do you know how egregious your actions have to be to make journalists want to talk to writers about trees?’”

After the crowd laughter died down, she concluded that, “The issues that we’ve been facing at NBC Universal are a microcosm of not just the issues facing our industry, but the entire workforce in this country.”

And, she was quick to explain that the state of affairs is ever-changing, explaining, “In the last 24 hours I have written four versions of this speech because the situation has evolved so quickly. Last Thursday we announced this event and then our petition was signed by an incredible 26,300 people. [The restored sideway that appeared this morning] is the direct result of that action. It is a victory but, is not the conclusion. We will continue to hold the studio accountable and we will continue to utilize our power [unite] all of the executives at NBC Universal give us a fair deal.”

Following Conley, Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) offered some comments as well.

“Before I was ever a member of Congress, I was a union organizer [and] the way you win strikes is by making sure that you use your voices. There is a saying that ten people who speak up make more noise than 10,000 who remain silent. Each time we’re out here picketing, you send a loud message that you’re not going away because that’s what they want you to do.”

He assured the crowd that, “Members of Congress know what this is about. This is about living on livable wages in the city of Los Angeles, where there’s more million homes than in 46 other states in the entire country. It is becoming unaffordable every single day. So, we need to make sure that you get a fair contract where you can buy a house and raise your family. That’s what it’s about.”

Gomez closed with, “I have your back, and the members of the California Democratic delegation have your back.”

Representing SAG-AFTRA at the rally was, actor Joely Fisher, who is the union’s national secretary/treasurer and a negotiating committee member.

During her remarks, she immediately referenced the $250 fine that was levied by the city against NBC Universal for trimming the trees without a permit, saying that the fine was extremely low but yet that, “that’s more than they pay our background performers earn for a day of work, and [yet, the studios have] been asking us if we want to scan the background performers for a day and be able to use their image and their likeness in perpetuity, and we say, ‘hell, no!’”

She said that while the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are, ‘in it for the long haul.’ She also echoed Conley in saying, “We want to get back to work.,” adding, “And we want fair wages, we want protections, we want to feel safe on the set, we want good health care provided, and a pension when we retire.”

Raising her voice a bit, she called out, “You will not beat us out AMPTP. It’s a hot guild summer!”

Closing out the rally, David Goodman, former WGA President and current member of the WGA negotiating committee, called out the strike captains and lot coordinators, saying that on May 1^st, they came out and were, ‘nothing but a bunch of writers, and that on May 2^nd, “they came out in the sun, which many of us hadn’t seen in a while, and they became overnight union leaders, union heroes.”

Goodman said that strikers said to their employers, “we’re not going anywhere, until we get the deal we need. So, we’re going to picket in the blazing heat, and every once in a while, we may sing a few show tunes.”

He went on to add that, “Our employers hate picketing. I mean they really hate it. They really want us to go away. They hate it so much they ripped up the f*cking sidewalk! And our members said, ‘Nice try. We’re not going anywhere.’ So, then they cut down the trees, and our members said, ‘is that all you got? We’re not going anywhere!’

“In all seriousness,” said Goodman, “The captains and the WGA staff said, ‘our picketers lives are in danger,’ and they demanded that NBCU do something about the damage they’ve caused, and NBCU said, ‘no.’ The members didn’t give up. They engaged local elected leadership and they gathered [thousands of] signatures on a petition. Then NBCU thought about it and they gave in.”

Goodman added, “We’ve shut the business down until we get the deal we need. So, we’re going to keep picketing them to show them how strong we are. What’s happened at Universal has proven that collective action works, and that we’re going to win. Until we do, we’re not going anywhere.”

While there is cause for celebration given these victories, as Conley said, the situation involving the WGA, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP is ever-changing. So, as they say in TV — Stay Tuned.