Striking writers are convening in the heart of Los Angeles today for a march and rally designed to demonstrate the depth of the support among Writers Guild of America members for the strike that is now in its eighth week.
The WGA Strong March and Rally for a Fair Contract is set to kick off at Pan Pacific Park, with the crowd marching along Third Street and Fairfax to wind down to the La Brea Tar Pits off Wilshire Boulevard, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The neighborhood’s telltale smell of methane (all that buried oil has the unmistakable aroma of rotten eggs) was wafting strong through the open area of the Tar Pits where dozens of WGA staffers, sound, stage and lighting experts are busy setting up for the speechifying that is expected to begin around noon PT. About 1,000 writers and supporters set off from the Pan Pacific rally spot around 10:45 a.m. PT.
The WGA’s first big public rally outside of its regular picket locations also comes as members of the Directors Guild of America are in the final days of a ratification vote on a three-year contract that the guild reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. And SAG-AFTRA is in the midst of complication contract negotiations that could lead the performers union to its first industry-wide strike in more than 40 years.
David Goodman, former WGA West president and co-head of the guild’s contract negotiating committee, told Variety that the outpouring of support for the WGA strike, which began May 2, from fellow entertainment unions has been hugely significant.
“Obviously we’re being joined by so many other unions in this rally. It’s a signal that this fight isn’t just about us,” Goodman said. “Everybody recognizes this fight is about all the unions and all the workers in this business.”
On the tension within the industry about the DGA deal and whether directors pushed hard enough for gains amid the leverage created by the strike, Goodman observed: “They recognized that whatever deal they made is not the deal we need,” he said, noting that prominent DGA member Thomas Schlamme will speak at the La Brea Tar Pits.
“I don’t think it covered the issues we raised. I appreciate they made a deal they feel works for their membership. It doesn’t work for our membership. It doesn’t address any of the major issues we raised,” Goodman said.
Goodman would not hazard a guess on the state of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations, which began June 7.
“Does SAG go on strike? That’s a question I can’t answer,” he said. “In either case, if SAG gets a deal or goes on strike, there are going to be issues that aren’t going to be covered in that negotiation either. The companies still have to come back to us to make a deal with us.”
More to come
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