The Writers Guild of America announced Wednesday that its members have approved its new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers.
The agreement cultimates what was a decidedly passive round of major-Hollywood-union contract negotiations, which was kicked off last year when the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists jointly capitulated to 2 percent annual mimimum wage increases and modest health-and-pension-fund improvements.
Also read: SAG/AFTRA Deal: Coach to Vancouver, and No Performance Capture Coverage
Once that soft precedent for "pattern bargaining" was established, the Directors Guild of America and WGA also meekly fell into line, too.
Here's the WGA's full announcement:
WRITERS GUILD MEMBERS OVERWHELMINGLY RATIFY NEW CONTRACT
Los Angeles and New York – The members of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have ratified a new three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The WGA membership overwhelmingly voted in favor of ratifying the contract by 90.7 percent of 1,952 valid votes cast in Los Angeles and New York. The term of the agreement is from May 2, 2011 through May 1, 2014.
“We are very pleased that our joint membership has voted so strongly to ratify our 2011 Minimum Basic Agreement. We’d also like to express special thanks to our staffs and the negotiating committee for their diligence and expertise. Valuable advances have been made in our pension plan and in other areas important to writers. Nonetheless, we also recognize that much remains to be done. To that end, we have positioned ourselves for some hard and important work in the years ahead as we endeavor to further the needs and rights of our members,” said WGAW President John Wells and WGAE President Michael Winship.
Gains made in the contract include significant increases in contributions to the Writers Guild pension plan, increased reuse payments in Pay TV, and increased minimums.
The Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, broadcast, cable, news and digital media. The WGAE and WGAW are active in legislative activities on the state, federal, and international levels with a special focus on globalization, labor, communications, and copyrights. They also conduct a number of programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to, and on behalf of writers.
For more information about the Writers Guild of America, East, visit www.wgaeast.org. For more information about the Writers Guild of America, West, visit: www.wga.org.
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