The End Is Nearish!
a writer's perspective
After last night’s WGA membership meeting at the Shrine, it now feels very likely that the end of the strike is here. Over 3000 WGA members turned out to hear the announcement that over the next 48 hours, writers would be given a chance to vote as to whether or not they wanted to call off the strike.
This means that writers could be back to work as early as Wednesday. They won’t be returning to work tomorrow as some had hoped, but based on the “temperature in the room” last night, I feel pretty confident telling you that this thing is as good as done.
The purpose of last night’s meeting was to present guild members with the terms of the tentative deal that had been reached with the AMPTP, and to gauge their reaction. I had anticipated some contention, but from minute one, the crowd was overwhelmingly supportive.
At about 7:30 last night, the WGA negotiating committee took the stage to an enthusiastic standing ovation. By 7:35, there had been 113 standing ovations, and I was ready to text my wife that the strike was over.
Over the next hour and a half, WGA president Patric Verrone and head negotiator David Young led the crowd through the terms of the deal. They never oversold the greatness of the deal, and were very pragmatic about explaining why certain terms were huge victories, while others were less than we had hoped for.
After the 48-hour membership vote to end the strike, the WGA would enact a 10-day ratification period for the new contract.
At the end of the day, the deal achieved what the WGA had most hoped to accomplish when this round of negotiations began: the guild now has internet and new media jurisdiction.
After the meeting, writers poured into the lobby of the Shrine and hung out for a long time. People were exchanging emails and hugging and getting their strike t-shirts signed like yearbooks. The atmosphere was like a high school gym on graduation day.
The tentative contract on the table expires in May, 2011. Here's hoping that we won't be having a three-year reunion.
photo by Heath Biter for LAist