Writers Guild West to Negotiate New Contract on Its Own

The gulf inside the Writers Guild of America widened again Wednesday, when leaders of the union’s Western branch said that they will negotiate a new contract on their own with producers and television networks, leaving the guild’s Eastern affiliate to fend for itself.

The move comes after members of the Eastern branch torpedoed a contract last week that had already been ratified by a majority of the 8,000 television and film writers voting in the West. In voting against the contract, the members of the smaller, 2,400-member Eastern faction swung the election so that the deal was rejected by just 16 votes, or less than one-half of 1%.

Although the two guilds operate separately and have a long history of animosity, they historically unite to negotiate as one with the major networks and producers.

In splitting off to negotiate on its own, the Western faction is expected to renegotiate a nearly identical contract with producers and resubmit it to its members. The guild’s existing contract doesn’t expire until May 1998, so there is no immediate danger of a strike regardless of the vote.

Guild President Daniel Petrie Jr. criticized the Eastern vote as unfair, saying that writers were given no statements arguing in support of the contract. There was one statement condemning it.

Herb Sargent, president of the Eastern faction, called the West Coast action “unacceptable,” adding that it would “scuttle what 40 years of hard bargaining had achieved. A majority of East and West members have spoken, and their vote should be honored.” Nine years ago, the Writers Guild shut down production in what remains the longest and one of the most bitter strikes in Hollywood. Since then, the guild has chosen to negotiate contracts well in advance of expiration, a move its leaders claim has made producers, who are eager to avoid a repeat of the damage inflicted by the 1988 strike, more willing to make concessions in contract talks.

But some writers, who believe that the tactic deals too softly with producers, favor the more traditional confrontational approach to negotiations. They also complain that foreign TV and basic cable residuals are too skimpy.

The move by the Western group carries with it some risk for its leaders. Although the new contract was approved in the West by 57% of the vote, it was controversial among many writers and could possibly be rejected if put to a second vote, which would be seen as a vote of no confidence in the guild leaders. If that happens, guild leaders say, they will return to the traditional negotiating approach.

The new contract includes a boost in the minimums for writing, a promise by producers to negotiate new residual rates for basic cable and foreign TV work within two years, and a recommendation that $20 million be allocated for a unique “boomer” retiree health plan for writers of the baby boom era.