Writers Vote to Strike
- From: Donz5 <donz5@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 19:49:37 -0700
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/movies/20stri.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Movie and TV Writers Authorize a Call to Strike
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
Published: October 20, 2007
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19 - Screenwriters by a sizable majority authorized
their leaders to call a strike against Hollywood's producers as early
as Nov. 1, in votes disclosed Friday.
Meanwhile, bargainers for both sides this week felt their way toward
something missing from their stalled talks: the kind of unofficial
conversations that led to deals in the past.
In mail balloting and at Thursday-night meetings on both coasts,
members of the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of
America West granted strike authority with 90.3 percent approval,
representatives of the guilds said. About 5,500 of the roughly 12,000
writers covered by the unions' contracts cast votes.
Given historically low turnout rates in guild elections, the tally was
a strong show of support for the tough stance taken by guild
negotiators in their discussions with the Alliance of Motion Picture
and Television Producers.
"The next step is for us to get a serious response to our opening
proposals, which we still don't have," said David J. Young, executive
director of the West Coast guild.
The guilds are asking that residual payments for films and programs
sold on DVD be sharply increased, and that pay schedules be set for
new outlets like the Internet and cellphones. Company representatives
have refused the first demand, and have said they are not prepared to
address new media until their place and value in the entertainment
marketplace are better understood.
J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the producers' alliance, called
the authorization vote "a pro forma tactic," in which union leaders
typically win overwhelming support. "Our focus is on negotiating an
agreement," Mr. Counter said.
A walkout would be Hollywood's first major work stoppage since writers
struck for five months in 1988.
At a membership meeting in New York, attended by about 50 writers,
Mona Mangan, executive director of the East Coast guild, accused
companies of engaging in "psychological warfare," according to a guild
member who attended the meeting but requested anonymity to avoid
conflict with the leadership.
A similar meeting in Beverly Hills, Calif., drew more than 150
members.
On Tuesday, producers withdrew what had been their most contentious
demand: a plan to pay residuals for the use of movies and television
shows on DVDs, cable television and other outlets only after they had
recovered their costs.
Writers made no matching step, but a four-person team from each side
met that afternoon. It was the first so-called sidebar discussion in
talks that for months had been bogged down in the difficult dynamics
of official negotiation. Formal meetings can match the two groups of
representatives against each other in sessions that often discourage
open communication or the testing of ideas.
The bargaining committees are expected to meet again on Monday morning
at the Los Angeles headquarters of the Writers Guild of America West.
"You can't make an agreement sitting across from each other in that
huge room; you just can't," said Brian Walton, a labor lawyer who was
executive director of the Writers Guild of America West for 13 years
before being ousted in 1998 by the guild to toughen its approach to
negotiations.
Even during the 1988 strike, Mr. Walton, who teaches a class about law
and the Hollywood guilds at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, met
frequently with Mr. Counter, sometimes in one-on-one chats that kept
the sides engaged.
But exchanges of that sort have been virtually nonexistent since the
current negotiations began on July 16, whether because of animus
between the sides, because writers have been looking in vain for a
peace overture from Mr. Counter or some company chief, or because the
gap between negotiators' demands is simply too wide.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, Ms. Mangan said the lack of
informal communication had less to do with hard feelings between the
parties than a sense on the part of guild leaders that their issues
were too serious to be handled in less than a full session.
Until now, a sense of righteousness on both sides has discouraged the
sort of outreach that will have to come in the next 10 days, if a deal
is to take shape before the current contract expires, on Oct. 31.
Barbara Brogliatti, a spokeswoman for the producers' alliance, noted
that off-the-record conversations are useful only if those involved
are truly interested in give and take.
"It is not the shape or the size of the table that determines if a
deal will be reached," Ms. Brogliatti said. "It is the predilection
toward reaching a deal."
Still, Ms. Mangan was inclined to view the small group meeting as a
sign of progress in talks that have seen little so far.
"It was about getting down to brass tacks," she said. "How successful
it was really doesn't matter. It was the beginning."
.
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