Writers Strike Over: The Continued Labor Movement in Hollywood.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike officially ended Tuesday, October 10th when WGA members voted to ratify the new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television (AMPTP) Producers. The picketing ended for writers on October 2nd when a tentative deal was made. This puts the total number of days of the strike at 148. The contract will run from September 25, 2023 to May 31, 2026.
Some notable contract gains are writers’ increased pay, AI regulations, and an increased minimum number of writers for writers’ rooms. Writers Guild of America estimates the deal’s value at $233 million/year. The Writers Guild of America’s “Negotiations Update: Tentative Agreement” article on their website stated, “What we have won in this contract—most particularly, everything we have gained since May 2nd—is due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power, to demonstrate its solidarity, to walk side-by-side, to endure the pain and uncertainty of the past 146 days. It is the leverage generated by your strike, in concert with the extraordinary support of our union siblings, that finally brought the companies back to the table to make a deal.”
The end of the Writers Guild of America strike does not mean the end of the Hollywood labor movement. SAG-AFTRA is still on strike. They have been striking since July 14th, 2023. They are asking for many aspects of support for actors to be improved. In the “Why We Strike” part of the SAG-AFTRA website they state, “We need transformative contracts, yet remain far apart on the most critical issues that affect the very survival of our profession. Specifically, we need fair compensation that accounts for inflation, revenue sharing on top of residuals, protection from AI technology, and updates to our pension and health contribution caps, which haven’t been changed in decades.”
