“Our most significant accomplishment was restoring our health plan to a sustainable path after facing severe pressure from industry contraction and runaway healthcare cost inflation,” guild leadership said in a memo to members. “The companies agreed to substantially improved health contributions — an increase of 3.25% in the health contribution rate upon ratification, with the contribution rate reaching 16.75% by the second year of the contract, in addition to long-overdue increases to health contribution caps.”

Since the 2023 writers’ strikes, writer contributions to the WGA health plan had drastically decreased as the number of film and television projects greenlit by studios was curtailed, resulting in fewer writers employed. Meanwhile, health plan costs continue to increase as they have across all of American healthcare, resulting in a two-year loss of $122 million from the health plan’s reserves.

With the new commitments from the AMPTP, the WGA estimates that studio contributions to the health plan will reach a contract cycle record $280 million. In total, the health plan will receive an infusion of $321 million to maintain solvency that also includes $25 million and 0.25% annual contributions transferred from the guild’s over-funded Parental Leave fund.

By comparison, the 2017 WGA/AMPTP bargaining agreement, which was the last time that studio contributions to the plan were increased, were projected to add $66 million in employer-side contributions.

But that increase in funding will also come with cuts in benefits for health plan members and, for the first time, a monthly premium of at least $75 for single participants and up to $200 for members with multiple dependents. Deductibles for single and family plans will increase from $400 and $1,200 to $500 and $1,500, respectively while the out-of-pocket maximum for in-network service increases from $1,000 to $2,500, with a 3% annual increase.

In addition, the earnings threshold required to qualify for the health plan will increase in July 2027 from $46,759 to $53,773. This new threshold is 110% of the one-hour network primetime story and teleplay minimum and will continue to increase with MBA minimums.

Beyond the health plan, the WGA touted minimum increases totaling 10.5% over the term of the contract, with a higher increase for Comedy-Variety writers in the first year of the contract. Increases in high budget streaming residuals were negotiated as well as increases to the bonus structure for high-performing films and TV shows on streaming that was established to end the 2023 strike.

“For screenwriters, we established a new minimum for “page-one” rewrites, which is significantly higher than the standard rewrite fee. We expanded the number of writers covered by the guaranteed second step provision, and required studios to notify producers that only our employers may request work from the writer or receive direct delivery of the script,” the memo read.

As for artificial intelligence protections, the guild says it has expanded its access to information on how studios are integrating AI and clauses requiring studios to meet with the WGA if it plans to license writers’ work to train commercially available generative AI systems, during which the WGA would be able to negotiate compensation for writers.

Individuals with knowledge of the talks said that the AMPTP did not want to establish any compensation for AI licensing agreements during this contract cycle as no studios were imminently launching such partnerships. The recent dissolution of the partnership between Disney and OpenAI with the latter’s shutdown of its video generating software Sora played a factor in the talks.

If ratified, the WGA contract would break a three-year contract cycle for Hollywood labor that has dated back to the 1940s. Studios have been pushing for a longer contract cycle this year with the argument that such contracts would help give them more stability to greenlight more projects.

But longer contract cycles at a time of rapidly developing AI and ongoing industry contraction and consolidation would require significant concessions from the studios for the unions to agree, and the record offer for the health plan was one that the AMPTP was willing to make. With the four-year contract secured with WGA, insiders with knowledge of talks tell TheWrap that the AMPTP is expected to propose four-year cycles to SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America, though what they will offer in exchange remains under wraps.

Negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP only lasted three weeks before a deal was reached, a drastic shift from past contract cycles in which the two sides came to an impasse, digging their heels in and either reaching a deal at the 11th hour, as was the case in 2017, or going on strike, as was the case in 2023.

But insiders with knowledge of the talks say that in 2026, the two sides expressed interest in getting a deal done quickly as the AMPTP offered sizable contribution increases to the health plan with its first contract proposal including changes to the caps on contributions from certain film and TV projects that hadn’t changed in decades.

The AMPTP will next resume talks with SAG-AFTRA on April 27, having paused after five weeks of talks in February and March to allow negotiations with the WGA to begin. WGA West, meanwhile, still has its own contract dispute with its staffers union, which has been on strike since February.

The post Writers Guild Releases Tentative Agreement With AMPTP, Including $280 Million in Studio Health Plan Contributions appeared first on TheWrap.

The union, which is represented by the NewsGuild of New York, has been negotiating its first contract with the company since late 2023 and represents roughly 150 staffers across the editorial and business divisions. Guild staffers said ProPublica management has refused to agree on restrictions on replacing jobs with AI, job security provisions, seniority clauses for potential layoffs and wage increases. The union said last month that 92% of its members authorized a strike over the prolonged negotiations.

Staffers are picketing the company’s offices in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

“Our members are standing together to demand that management agree to very basic, very standard union protections,” Jeff Ernsthausen, a senior data reporter at ProPublica and secretary of its union, said in a statement. “We care deeply about our work, so we call on management to understand the gravity of this walkout and to come to the table ready to take our concerns seriously.”

A ProPublica spokesperson said the company was “committed to reaching a fair and sustainable first contract to cement the strong pay and benefits we’ve always provided our staff” and that its proposals were similar to those offered at the Atlantic, the New Yorker and the New York Times.

“Our members at ProPublica are key to the company’s reputation for excellence,” Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York, added. “Today, they have walked off the job to remind management of their value and demonstrate their commitment to accomplishing a fair contract.”

The walkout follows an unfair labor practice charge the union filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, alleging the company “unilaterally” imposed its AI policy without first bargaining with the union. The policy states that ProPublica will not use AI to generate or manipulate photos, videos and audio, and the outlet promises staff will review any content using AI before publication.

“Our journalists are responsible for everything we publish,” it said.

A ProPublica spokesperson said the company has never had layoffs and that it was “too soon to know exactly how AI will affect our work.”

“Rather than make promises we can’t responsibly keep, we are exploring how these technologies can create more space for investigative reporting and thinking deeply and creatively, not less,” they said.

AI policies have rankled newsrooms across the country. Staffers at the Sacramento Bee and the Charlotte Observer, two news outlets owned by McClatchy, have expressed concerns with management over a new AI tool meant to repurpose older stories under new headlines. Unionized staffers at the New York Times have also made AI a focal point of their negotiations.

The post ProPublica Union Launches 24-Hour Walkout After AI Talks Stymie Contract Negotiations appeared first on TheWrap.

The two sides made the joint announcement on Monday afternoon, two days after the AMPTP and Writers Guild of America reached a tentative deal on a new contract after just three weeks of negotiations. Both sides will be under a media blackout.

With this start date, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP will have two additional weeks to negotiate before the Directors Guild of America is set to start its own negotiations on May 11. If a deal is not reached in that time period, it is expected that there will still be time after DGA negotiations to come to an agreement as SAG-AFTRA’s existing film/TV contract does not expire until June 30.

The opportunity for SAG-AFTRA talks to resume earlier than expected came after the WGA reached a deal with the AMPTP on Saturday, a dramatic departure from past contract negotiations where talks between the Writers Guild and studios were long, contentious and, in the case of 2007 and 2023, led to lengthy strikes.

But the WGA and AMPTP announced a deal this past Saturday night that promises to ensure the longterm solvency of the guild’s health plan, which saw its financial reserves depleted as contributions decreased amidst a drop in production greenlights and hiring of writers. The full tentative agreement is expected to be released later this week.

“The WGA Negotiating Committee has unanimously approved a tentative agreement with the AMPTP for the 2026 Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA),” the guild shared over the weekend. “This deal protects writers’ health plan and puts it on a sustainable path, builds on gains from 2023, and helps address free work challenges. Members will receive more information in the coming days.”

“The AMPTP has reached a tentative agreement with the WGA,” the studio group echoed. “We look forward to building on this progress as we continue working toward agreements that support long-term industry stability.”

The post SAG-AFTRA to Resume Contract Talks With AMPTP in April appeared first on TheWrap.

“Massive controversy has now broken out over the horrifying issue of Jonathan Majors being in an action movie and then he fell down and now the unions are mad … and we don’t really care very much,” Shapiro said during his Monday episode of his podcast “Ben Shapiro Show.”

Shapiro went on to say that the drama is really about Hollywood wanting control.

“It seems to me this is just the latest attempt — particularly by a lot of folks in the entertainment media — to fight us,” Shapiro said. “They weren’t upset that Jonathan Majors is making a comeback, they’re upset that Jonathan Majors is making a comeback with us.”

He continued: “Hollywood would like to control everything sort of top-down in centralized fashion. They’re upset that we’re operating outside their system and successfully doing so and getting stars like Jonathan Majors to be in movies with us … As soon as we announced Jonathan Majors would work with us, all the articles were about how terrible it was for Jonathan Majors to work with us, not for us to work with Jonathan Majors.”

Trouble is brewing on the set of a new action film, as the day after news broke of union crew members striking the Daily Wire-Bonfire Legend co-production, video was published online of the ex-“Marvel” actor and co-star JC Kilconyne falling through a loose window pane while filming.

While Deadline, which shared the exclusive footage Friday, reported that the actors’ fall was about six feet to the ground and that Kilcoyne needed stitches “all over his hands,” Bonfire Legend producer Dallas Sonnier dismissed the concerns in a statement to TheWrap.

“The actors’ fall was shorter than the failed movie careers of the now-union reps,” Sonnier said, echoing similarly barbed statements of the ongoing strike. (He told Deadline that he doesn’t “negotiate with communists.”)

IATSE confirmed the strike on Thursday, with an individual familiar with the action telling TheWrap that the project’s behind-the-scenes crew members are striking for improved healthcare and safety standards on set. The window accident occurred “after the window was replaced with an unsecured sheet of tempered glass to be purposefully shattered in a later stunt that did not involve any actors.”

Sonnier joined Shapiro on Monday, where he shared more details about the incident.

“Everything was fine, the actors continued to work throughout the day. They went to the hospital at the end of the day, got a couple of stitches, and you know what, we made an awesome movie,” Sonnier said. “The funny thing is the unions tried to start picketing us and protesting, but they could only round up on a given day about seven people and so they just looked like the bad recorder version of the Titanic soundtrack … they really embarrassed themselves … None of the safety concerns ever came up, this was all about money and power.”

Over the weekend, Majors gave TMZ an update on his wellbeing following the fall.

“I’m OK. I was happy to be on set and help tell the story,” Majors said. I am grateful for whoever is checking on me, the cast and crew for regarding our safety. It’s going to be a great movie and I am looking forward to fans seeing it!”

The post Ben Shapiro Says ‘We Really Don’t Care’ About Union Strike on Jonathan Majors Film: ‘Just the Latest Attempt to Fight Us’ appeared first on TheWrap.

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“The AMPTP has reached a tentative agreement with the WGA,” the studio group said in a statement. “We look forward to building on this progress as we continue working toward agreements that support long-term industry stability.”

The tentative contract will be released to members and to the public this coming week following an approval vote from WGA’s national board. In a major shift for Hollywood labor, the contract is expected to last four years instead of the usual three, with the next talks set to take place in 2030.

Historically, Hollywood has operated on shorter contract cycles than other entertainment sectors. Major League Baseball, for example, operates on five-year labor contracts with its players association and is expected to have extremely contentious negotiations that could lead to a lockout in 2027. The National Football League’s labor contract is even longer at ten years.

The three-year cycles for Hollywood unions, which have been an industry custom since the 1940s, have enabled them to keep up with significant shifts in the film and TV industry’s ever-changing financial models, from the rise of television syndication and broadcasts of films to the creation of home video to, more recently, the rise of streaming.

These new advances have regularly led to strikes, as was the case in 2023 as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA fought to establish new rules around compensation and, in the writers’ case, minimum staffing requirements for streaming productions.

Even in contract cycles where a deal wasn’t reached, talks between the WGA and AMPTP have often taken more than a month to complete. In 2017, the two sides negotiated right up to the strike deadline on compensation for short-order series, announcing a deal with less than an hour before the previous contract was to expire.

Which makes this speedier three-week process concluding in an agreement for a longer contract cycle such a radical departure from cycles past. One individual with knowledge of the talks says that the proposal exchanges between the WGA and AMPTP were “way more productive” in the early days of negotiations than in past contract cycles, crediting a “more constructive” approach by the AMPTP’s new chief negotiator and former Screen Actors Guild executive director Greg Hessinger.

A second insider said that discussions immediately began on the WGA health plan, which has seen costs significantly increase even as writer contributions have fallen considerably since the 2023 strike with fewer shows and movies being greenlit. A longer contract cycle was an expected demand of the AMPTP in exchange for dramatically increased employer contributions to the plan, as well as major changes to the plan’s benefits to ensure long-term sustainability.

While those changes are made directly by the health plan trustees, TheWrap is told that the tentative contract will include the changes to the health plan that the trustees will be instructed to carry out with the understanding the studios’ increased contributions have been agreed upon on the condition that those changes are implemented.

It remains to be seen what those changes will involve, as well as what gains WGA has negotiated in exchange for a longer contract cycle. WGA negotiators told TheWrap prior to talks that they would seek increased pay and employment protections for Appendix A writers as well as improvements on the performance bonus structure for high-performing films and TV shows on streaming, higher pay for screenwriters doing total rewrites of feature scripts and increases to minimum staffing requirements on streaming shows.

Expansion of the landmark artificial intelligence protections for writers agreed upon in 2023 to end the strike is also expected, though how the collapse of Disney and OpenAI’s partnership factored into those protections remains to be seen. The WGA had been looking for a compensation model for when studios license out writers’ material to AI companies, but AMPTP insiders told TheWrap that such a demand would face significant pushback.

With talks complete, the WGA’s focus will now return to its own strike being conducted by its 115 staffers, who unionized last year as the Writers Guild Staffers Union but have staged picket lines throughout the AMPTP negotiations as part of their work stoppage which began in mid-February.

That strike, which led to the cancellation of the Writers Guild Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, lasted through the AMPTP negotiations as WGSU members held picket lines outside of the talks held at SAG-AFTRA’s Miracle Mile headquarters. This past week, WGA West moved to end healthcare coverage for the striking staff workers days after the WGSU sent a new contract proposal that it called “strike-ending.”

As for the AMPTP, the rapid completion of talks with the WGA now opens the door for a potential resumption of talks with SAG-AFTRA, with whom the studios had been negotiating for five weeks before pausing to allow WGA negotiations to begin. The AMPTP has roughly a month before talks with the Directors Guild of America are set to begin on May 11.

The AMPTP were also expected to push for longer contract cycles with SAG-AFTRA, though labor insiders said the actors’ guild was expected to balk at that considering that its film and television bargaining agreement is one of several that it negotiates, all of which influence each other. A change in the duration of one bargaining agreement would likely require SAG-AFTRA to make substantial adjustments to its contract negotiation schedules and practices.

The post WGA, AMPTP Make Tentative Agreement Official: ‘This Deal Protects Writers’ Health Plan’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers includes a multimillion-dollar contribution to strengthen the union’s health plan, a key issue in negotiations. The agreement heads to the union’s governing bodies for review and members for approval.

No official announcement was made Saturday, but a person with knowledge of the talks said one was forthcoming as soon as the details were nailed down.

Talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers began in mid-March and moved more quickly than expected. The AMPTP, now led by Greg Hessinger, had sought longer-term labor stability in its negotiations with the WGA, SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America; the four-year deal is longer than the typical three-year agreement.

The deal also includes pension increases, higher compensation for streaming-only productions and protections for AI training. The deal points hit all areas the WGA said were priorities before negotiations began.

The WGA’s health fund took a major hit in the past few years, with a combined $122 million in losses in 2023 and 2024 due to rising costs and reduced work that was a downstream effect of the writers’ strike – the last time writers and studios came to the table.

Once the announcement is made, the tentative bargaining agreement will be sent to WGA’s national board for an approval vote before it is publicly released for members to vote on for ratification.

But this contract cycle will bring a twist to the ratification process for WGA West, as the staffers who organize town hall meetings for members to ask questions about the contract and oversee communications between members and leadership have been on strike since mid-February. 115 members of the Writers Guild Staff Union have staged picket lines outside the WGA West headquarters and outside the SAG-AFTRA headquarters, where the WGA and AMPTP have been negotiating over the past three weeks.

The post WGA Reaches Tentative Deal With Studios and Streamers on 4-Year Contract appeared first on TheWrap.

While Deadline, which shared the exclusive footage Friday, reported that the actors’ fall was about six feet to the ground and that Kilcoyne needed stitches “all over his hands,” Bonfire Legend producer Dallas Sonnier dismissed the concerns in a statement to TheWrap.

“The actors’ fall was shorter than the failed movie careers of the now-union reps,” Sonnier said, echoing similarly barbed statements of the ongoing strike. (He told Deadline that he doesn’t “negotiate with communists.”)

IATSE confirmed the strike on Thursday, with an individual familiar with the action telling TheWrap that the project’s behind-the-scenes crew members are striking for improved healthcare and safety standards on set.

The window accident occurred last week “after the window was replaced with an unsecured sheet of tempered glass to be purposefully shattered in a later stunt that did not involve any actors,” according to Deadline.

In the clip, viewers can see Majors thrust backwards against Kilcoyne while acting out a scene where his character gets shot. The two then slam against a window behind them, which they proceed to accidentally fall through. After crew rushes up to the window, the two men can both be heard saying, “I’m good.”

Reps for Kilcoyne said that he “is doing well and was taken care of immediately by production,” adding that he “did not feel unsafe on set and continues to have a positive experience working on the project.”

The fall was reportedly the last straw for the crew. The presence of black mold on set was also a concern for their safety, Deadline reported. Additionally, a set medic was reportedly hit by a rigged tree branch, the film’s director and department heads failed to arrange meetings ahead of complex stunts and the film employed special effects supervisor Chris Bailey, who pled guilty in 2021 to Possession of Explosive Materials as a Prohibited Person.

As one crew member told Deadline, they saw “no normal production activities” on set.

Sonnier produces the untitled Daily Wire action film for his production company Bonfire Legend. Other producers include Ben Shapiro for Daily Wire, Travis Mills, Lillian Campbell and Sydney Aucreman.

The film is written and directed by Kyle Rankin, who previously collaborated with Daily Wire and Bonfire Legend on his school shooter action/thriller “Run Hide Fight.”

This untitled action flick marks the first project filmed by Majors since the actor was convicted of one count of assault and one count of harassment against his former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. Majors was later accused by two other women of emotional and physical abuse.

Benjamin Lindsay contributed reporting for this story.

The post Jonathan Majors’ Producer Dismisses On-Set Fall as ‘Shorter Than Failed Movie Careers’ of Union Reps Amid Crew Strike appeared first on TheWrap.

The workers will begin their strike this Friday during the opening weekend of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which is expected to bring high turnout to movie theaters worldwide.

Members of the Sloans Lake Alamo, who are unionized by Communications Workers of America Local 7777, say that the “disastrous” shift to scanning QR codes to place food order on phones before and during movies has led to “overcomplicated orders, lack of proper coursing, and increased friction between guests and staff.”

“The QR system isn’t optional, it’s being forced on every guest,” said Katie Hansen of the Sloans Lake bargaining committee. “This creates a worse experience for customers and makes our jobs harder, not easier. I have guests that I have served for 12 years saying they won’t come back again.”

Since being founded in Austin in 1997, Alamo Drafthouse has been known among hardcore moviegoers for its strict policy against talking or texting in theaters, informing customers before the movie starts that those who use their phones will be escorted from the auditorium without a refund after one warning.

But this past January, Alamo Drafthouse announced that the longstanding practice of using order cards and a button to order additional food during a movie would be replaced by an online system accessed through QR codes.

On its website, Drafthouse said the shift was being done so that servers would no longer inform moviegoers about last calls for orders and place their checks on their tables during the third act of the movie, leading ideally to fewer distractions during the most climactic moments of films. The chain estimates that only 15% of food orders at its locations are placed after the film begins.

The shift has led to major backlash from longtime loyal customers, who have argued that scanning a QR code and navigating a mobile site to place orders is just as if not more distracting for moviegoers than the pen-and-paper system. “Lord of the Rings” star and Austin resident Elijah Wood condemned the changes as a “profound and upsetting mistake” and “antithetical to the ethos of Alamo and those who love the theatrical experience they provide.”

Alamo Drafthouse declined to comment on the Sloans Lake strike, but insiders at the company have pointed to successful labor negotiations with employees at the chain’s New York locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn that included implementation of the QR code system. They also point to an increase in subscriptions to its Alamo Season Pass service, which offers one ticket per day for a monthly price, since the new system was rolled out nationwide.

In Sloans Lake, Alamo workers also claim that the theater’s management is using the QR code system as justification for future staffing reductions despite the company’s assurances that layoffs would not occur with this shift. Alamo insiders say that the company is sticking by that “no layoffs” policy nationwide with no reductions in base wages for hourly employees.

The union says that Sloans Lake Alamo management offered an an “18-hour guarantee” it says is misleading, as it applies only to scheduled hours rather than actual hours worked and allows management to cut shifts on weekends where audience turnout is expected to be lower. The management also pushed for provisions that would prevent workers from speaking out against the QR system.

Meanwhile, 40 employees at another Colorado Alamo Drafthouse location in Westminster voted to join the CWA union, a move that the union says was done in response to the QR code rollout.

“We are the front line of the Alamo experience,” Hansen said. “This company was built on service. Replacing that with a forced QR system puts that entire experience at risk. Who comes to the movies to be on their phones?”

CWA 7777 is currently scheduled to resume negotiations with Sloans Lake Alamo management on April 7.

The post Colorado Alamo Drafthouse Workers Strike Over ‘Disastrous’ Shift to Phone Orders During Movies appeared first on TheWrap.

“SAG-AFTRA welcomes the administration’s National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence and its recognition that America’s leadership in AI must go hand in hand with strong protections for human creativity,” the union said in a statement Thursday. “Our members’ performances, voices and likenesses are not raw material to be used without consent; they are the product of human talent and labor, and they deserve protection.”

It continued: “We agree that disputes over the unauthorized training of AI models on copyrighted works should be adjudicated by the courts without the need for new legislation.”

As SAG-AFTRA went on, it noted that the union appreciated the framework’s recognition that “workers must share in the benefits of AI,” adding, “We also believe that free-market licensing must continue to thrive, combined with SAG-AFTRA’s ability to collectively bargain for appropriate licensing terms and fair revenue shares.”

Per the union, these specific principles will only better serve the creative community, as it ensures responsible AI development.

“Finally, we strongly support the framework’s call for Congress to pass federal legislation against digital replica abuse while maintaining strong First Amendment safeguards,” the statement concluded. “Individuals need control in a world awash with digital clones, but that control cannot harm the freedom of expression our industry relies upon to entertain and inform the world. Congress should move swiftly to enact the bipartisan NO FAKES Act.”

SAG-AFTRA’s comments follow a similar endorsement from the Motion Picture Association, which saw Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin declaring that he and the MPA welcomed the administration’s recommendations on how to deal with AI.

“The MPA welcomes the Trump administration’s National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, which encourages our nation’s ongoing leadership in both creativity and innovation,” Rivkin said in a statement to TheWrap last week. “Strong copyright protections and innovation are mutually reinforcing and must continue to be in the age of AI.”

On March 20, Trump’s White House issued a framework of policies for AI, sharing at the time that the system aimed to establish uniform national standards for AI regulation while preempting states from enacting their own rules.

As we previously reported, the six-pronged outline proposes regulations on AI products and infrastructure, ranging from child safety rules to standardizing permitting and energy use of AI data centers.

The update unsurprisingly struck a chord with the MPA and SAG-AFTRA, as both have been vocal advocates for AI guardrails in Hollywood. Namely, as studios push to embrace AI, creatives have voiced concern as their work and likeness have been co-opted by AI companies to train its models — which many believe is a clear copyright infringement.

Nonetheless, Trump’s plan has drawn some criticism for its attempt to override different sets of AI protections introduced by state laws. Specifically, the AI companies have argued that the patchwork of laws make it difficult to operate — though, states have defended that their protections are necessary to check potential abuses of the technology.

Back in December, Trump signed an AI executive order preempting state-level AI protections. The president has previously taken an approach that has sided with AI companies, noting in July that he didn’t think it was possible for the tech companies to make payments for all the copyrighted material it uses to train its models.

Still, the White House said it wants Congress to convert the framework into legislation.

The post SAG-AFTRA ‘Strongly Supports’ Trump’s AI Policy Framework, Says Members ‘Deserve Protection’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The new proposal was released to the public by the union and was accompanied by an open letter to WGAW executive director Ellen Stutzman, urging Stutzman to either accept the proposal, to negotiate “lingering issues” based off of the proposal, or to agree to enter arbitration with a third party from the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service within the next 60 days. The two sides have met intermittently since the strike began on Feb. 17, most recently this past Tuesday.

“This bargaining cycle has been marked by a long, drawn-out process of management attempting to bargain away from, and actively resisting, both this membership’s priorities and the basic union standards found in most collective bargaining agreements,” the letter addressed to Stutzman reads. “Enough is enough. The time to enter a fair deal with your staff and reunite is now.”

After several weeks of picket lines in front of the WGA West’s Fairfax headquarters in Hollywood and the cancellation of the guild’s annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony, the WGSU has now moved their picket lines outside of the headquarters of SAG-AFTRA, where the WGA is currently in the midst of its own contract negotations with Hollywood studios and their representatives, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

In the letter to Stutzman, the WGSU says that their proposal would resolve the four key issues they want addressed in the labor agreement, which are listed in their own words as:

• A measure of predictability in job transfer and promotion,
• Employment security with regard to layoff and recall,
• A legal no-strike clause that does not insist on a permissive subject of bargaining, and
• A union-standard wage and salary scale that provides regular and predictable pay progression.

The union says it is seeking a response from the WGA West by 11:59 PM PT on Monday. TheWrap has reached out to WGAW for comment and will update with any response.

The post Writers Guild Staff Union Delivers ‘Strike-Ending’ Contract Proposal to WGA West appeared first on TheWrap.