Leaders of SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s Teamsters Local 399 showed their support for the WGA on Monday, posing with WGA leaders shortly before the 11 a.m. start of the Writers Guild’s contract negotiations with producers at the AMPTP’s headquarters in Sherman Oaks.
“This is what solidarity looks like!” the WGA West posted on its Twitter page above a photo of the labor leaders. From left to right are David A. Goodman, former WGA West president and co-chair of the WGA’s Negotiating Committee; Lindsay Dougherty, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 399; Ellen Stutzman, WGA chief negotiator and assistant executive director of the WGA West; Meredith Stiehm, president of the WGA West; Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director, and Chris Keyser, former WGA West president and co-chair of the WGA Negotiation Committee.
Day 2 of the WGA’s contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers gets underway today.
On Monday, before the talks started, the WGA’s Negotiating Committee said that “the studios are spending billions of dollars to produce the content we create and are reaping tens of billions in profits. Those profits come at the expense of writers, who are not keeping up. That must change now. Our goal is a contract that allows writers to maintain sustainable careers and be fairly compensated for the work we do. Our proposals are reasonable and we hope the studios will take them seriously. You will not hear much from us during these early weeks of negotiations, but we will be in touch as soon as we have significant updates.”
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On Sunday, the AMPTP said: “The AMPTP companies approach this negotiation and the ones to follow with the long-term health and stability of the industry as our priority. We are all partners in charting the future of our business together and fully committed to reaching a mutually beneficial deal with each of our bargaining partners. The goal is to keep production active so that all of us can continue working and continue to deliver to consumers the best entertainment product available in the world.”
