21 Writers Seek Right to Quit Guild

Twenty-one dissident members of the striking Writers Guild of America on Thursday asked the National Labor Relations Board to invalidate guild rules that restrict their ability to work.

The request, if granted, would clear the way for them to resign active status in the union and return to work, while keeping some guild benefits, including pension and health benefits.

It threatened to split the 9,000-member guild in the 19th week of its strike against movie and television producers.

“(This) is intended as a warning shot across the bow” for guild leaders, said Dan Gordon, one of the 21, at a press conference.

The group said it expected to resign active status on July 28.

Gordon said he believed that “significant numbers” of members would follow suit.

Willing to Fight

The union immediately responded by promising to fight the action.

“The specific language in our constitution regarding resignation from the guild during a strike has never been tested. We are willing to take a case as far as necessary in the legal system to have our rules declared legal and enforceable,” the guild said in a prepared statement.

A guild spokeswoman said none of the group had actually asked for the limited status yet. Under the guild constitution, any member who resigns during a strike is required to observe the union’s strike rules and remains subject to union discipline. But a review of the constitution found no mention of this limited status, which courts in other cases have termed “financial-core” status.

The writers who signed the charge all appeared to be associated with the Writers Coalition, a loose splinter group that called for approval of a contract offered by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in June. Guild members defeated the offer by a vote of 2,789 to 933.

At the press conference, dissidents said they believed that it would take far fewer than 900 requests for limited status to end the strike, because a relatively small number of guild members work regularly.

Afterward, 546 writers attended an “informational meeting” at which coalition members described “financial-core” status.

In addition to Gordon, the dissidents are Thomas Donnelly, William Blinn, Rift Fournier, Neal Marshall, Stuart Sheslow, Robert Collector, Mike Marvin, Bob Booker, Bruce Johnson, L. Travis Clark, Lionel Chetwynd, Michael Zinberg, Robert Singer, Edward Anhalt, Frank Cardea, George Schenck, Larry Mollin, Judith Paige Mitchell, Robert Gale and David Milch.

Virtually all 21 work regularly in the movie and TV industry. Some are so-called “hyphenates,” that is, writers who also serve as producers of their shows or films. Others work primarily as writers.

In a statement, the producers’ alliance said, “The courts have already ruled that striking union members have an absolute right to resign during a strike, and the union cannot in any way restrict the members’ right to resign.”

Several attorneys said a 1985 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court supported members’ right to quit during a strike.

Arguments Expected

Questions about union members are likely to heat up in coming weeks as the studios intensify their push to produce TV shows and movies in spite of the strike. One major television studio, Lorimar, is ordering all its executive producers back to work despite the strike--and two others, MCA/Universal and Paramount, have said they plan to keep some of their shows in production.

“I can tell you that we have brought back or are bringing back our executive producers and they are expected to produce their shows by whatever means possible,” said Barbara Brogliatti, Lorimar Television’s vice president for corporate communications.

MCA/Universal and Paramount also will keep some shows in production that require new scripts, but were evasive about how they planned to do it.

The union has repeatedly said that any member who writes in violation of the strike will be fined or expelled, and that non-members who write will be barred from future guild membership.