Irked Writers Strike Back at Their Critics

In his letter, Prelutsky writes that I “referred” to underemployed Writers Guild members as “taxi drivers, waiters and Radio Shack writers.” I never said that or anything like it and never would.

I have said that the majority of our 9,000 members rarely work as paid writers and, in all three strikes of the ‘80s, have had little to lose by striking.

In contrast, writers who make a decent living out of this business have everything to lose by striking. And since they form less than a third of the membership, they have been consistently outvoted in strike situations.

In short, we who pay most of the guild’s dues and strike costs and keep the health insurance fund solvent are victims of taxation without representation.

In our fall election, in an attempt to remedy this inequity, the Writers Coalition will introduce perestroika to the union. We will run, by petition, a slate of board candidates opposing those nominated by the current board.

Our principal platform plank will be our promise to seek an 8-year no-strike agreement with the alliance (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers)--all disputes to be settled by binding arbitrators.

EDWARD ANHALT

Pacific Palisades