WGA West's Own Staff Walks Off the Job, Accusing the Writers' Union of the Same Tactics It Fights in Studios

On the corner of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, a scene unfolded Tuesday afternoon that would have been unthinkable three years ago: picket signs appeared outside the headquarters of the Writers Guild of America West — carried not by screenwriters, but by the guild's own employees .

Approximately 100 of the WGA West's 150 staff members walked off the job in what the Writers Guild Staff Union called an unfair labor practice strike, the culmination of months of increasingly bitter negotiations over their first-ever collective bargaining agreement . The workers, who are represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, accused guild management of having "surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in bad faith surface bargaining, showing no intention to come to an agreement on most of WGSU's core issues" .

The irony is difficult to overstate. The WGA West — the very organization that led Hollywood's screenwriters through a bruising 148-day strike against studios in 2023, rallying the entertainment industry around the principles of fair pay and collective bargaining rights — now stands accused by its own workforce of the same anti-union behavior it has spent decades condemning in management suites across the entertainment industry WGA Staff Go on Strike Weeks Ahead of AMPTP Negotiationsvariety.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West went on strike on Tuesday, accusing leadership of the union of breaking labor laws. The strike will affect about 100 of the 150 staffers at the union. The workers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, voted to authorize a strike last month after talks broke down.. That 2023 walkout, which shut down television and film production across the country, ended only after the guild secured landmark protections on issues including minimum staffing for writers' rooms, residual payments for streaming content, and guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence.

The WGSU's grievances are substantial and specific. The union, which organized last spring and began contract negotiations with WGA West management in September, says it has endured 19 bargaining sessions that produced little meaningful progress . Among its demands are pay raises, workplace protections regarding artificial intelligence, and procedures for termination review and formal grievance processes . The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board last August, alleging that a member of the organizing committee was unlawfully fired — an accusation that remains unresolved and that the WGSU has cited as evidence of a broader pattern of retaliation against workers who supported the organizing effort WGA Staff Go on Strike Weeks Ahead of AMPTP Negotiationsvariety.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West went on strike on Tuesday, accusing leadership of the union of breaking labor laws. The strike will affect about 100 of the 150 staffers at the union. The workers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, voted to authorize a strike last month after talks broke down..

The strike authorization vote, held on January 29, passed with 82 percent support — a commanding margin that signaled the depth of frustration among the rank and file . In the weeks leading up to Tuesday's walkout, WGSU members had already staged informational pickets outside a WGA membership meeting, escalating pressure on guild leadership to come to terms WGA West Staff Goes On Strike Ahead Of Writers Union’s AMPTP Negotiationsdeadline.com·SecondaryThe Writers Guild of America West’s staff has gone on strike. A month before the writers guild is set to bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild Staff Union has called a work stoppage until further notice, the group said Tuesday. WGSU members are expected to picket outside the WGA West offices in Los Angeles. Deadline has reached out to the WGA West for comment. This post will be updated if the union has anything to say.. Tuesday's full strike made good on that threat, with workers establishing a formal picket line outside the guild's Fairfax Avenue headquarters.

The WGA West pushed back firmly against the allegations. The guild maintained that the unfair labor practice charges leveled against it were "without merit" and said it had been bargaining in good faith . Guild leadership pointed to the 19 negotiating sessions held since September, asserting that it had put forward substantial proposals covering union protections, compensation, and working conditions WGA Staff Go on Strike Weeks Ahead of AMPTP Negotiationsvariety.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West went on strike on Tuesday, accusing leadership of the union of breaking labor laws. The strike will affect about 100 of the 150 staffers at the union. The workers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, voted to authorize a strike last month after talks broke down.. Both sides have released detailed side-by-side comparisons of their respective contract proposals, each painting a starkly different picture of who has been stalling and who has been making genuine concessions WGA Staff Go on Strike Weeks Ahead of AMPTP Negotiationsvariety.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West went on strike on Tuesday, accusing leadership of the union of breaking labor laws. The strike will affect about 100 of the 150 staffers at the union. The workers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, voted to authorize a strike last month after talks broke down..

The timing could hardly be more consequential. The WGA West is scheduled to begin negotiating a new TV and theatrical contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in March, with the current agreement — the one won through the historic 2023 strike — set to expire on May 1 . Guild leadership has assured its screenwriter members that the staff strike will not derail those preparations, noting that the executive staff who work directly with the negotiating committee are not part of the WGSU and therefore not participating in the walkout . Membership meetings to discuss negotiation priorities have, however, been postponed, and the guild's Los Angeles headquarters has been closed to members and the public for the duration of the action WGA Staff Go on Strike Weeks Ahead of AMPTP Negotiationsvariety.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West went on strike on Tuesday, accusing leadership of the union of breaking labor laws. The strike will affect about 100 of the 150 staffers at the union. The workers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, voted to authorize a strike last month after talks broke down..

For industry observers, the optics are damaging regardless of the merits of either side's position. A union that cannot reach a fair agreement with its own employees faces an obvious credibility problem when it sits across the table from studio executives and demands better treatment for writers. The AMPTP, which represents Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, and the other major studios, will be watching closely — and critics of organized labor in Hollywood will not hesitate to seize on the contradiction WGA West Staff Goes On Strike Ahead Of Writers Union’s AMPTP Negotiationsdeadline.com·SecondaryThe Writers Guild of America West’s staff has gone on strike. A month before the writers guild is set to bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild Staff Union has called a work stoppage until further notice, the group said Tuesday. WGSU members are expected to picket outside the WGA West offices in Los Angeles. Deadline has reached out to the WGA West for comment. This post will be updated if the union has anything to say..

The staff who walked out Tuesday include residuals and dues processors, IT and data management workers, organizers, communications specialists, legal personnel, researchers, Writers Guild Theater employees, and contract enforcement staff . These are the people who keep the institutional machinery of the guild running — processing the residual payments that screenwriters depend on, enforcing the very contracts that the WGA negotiates, and organizing the membership drives that keep the union strong. Their absence, even if temporary, creates operational vulnerabilities at precisely the moment when the guild needs to be marshaling every resource for what promises to be a difficult round of negotiations with the studios WGA Staff Go on Strike Weeks Ahead of AMPTP Negotiationsvariety.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West went on strike on Tuesday, accusing leadership of the union of breaking labor laws. The strike will affect about 100 of the 150 staffers at the union. The workers, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, voted to authorize a strike last month after talks broke down..

The dispute also raises broader questions about the state of labor relations within labor organizations themselves. The WGA West is far from the only union to face internal organizing drives in recent years, as a younger generation of workers has brought the same expectations about workplace democracy and fair treatment to their employers — even when those employers happen to be unions. The dynamic creates an uncomfortable paradox: organizations built on the principle that workers deserve a voice sometimes struggle to extend that same principle to the people who work for them Writers Guild West’s Own Staff Calls a Strike Against the Unionhollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryThe staff of the Writers Guild of America West called a strike on Tuesday, making good on a threat to mire the writers’ union in its own labor issues ahead of major contract negotiations with studios and streamers. The Writers Guild Staff Union announced that it had called a strike in protest of alleged unfair labor practices and would be picketing until further notice..

Whether the WGA West and its staff can resolve their differences before the AMPTP talks begin in March remains an open question. The guild has expressed hope for reaching a first contract with the staff union . The WGSU, for its part, has indicated it will continue its picket line indefinitely WGA West Staff Goes On Strike Ahead Of Writers Union’s AMPTP Negotiationsdeadline.com·SecondaryThe Writers Guild of America West’s staff has gone on strike. A month before the writers guild is set to bargain with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the Writers Guild Staff Union has called a work stoppage until further notice, the group said Tuesday. WGSU members are expected to picket outside the WGA West offices in Los Angeles. Deadline has reached out to the WGA West for comment. This post will be updated if the union has anything to say.. In the meantime, Hollywood's most prominent writers' union finds itself in an awkward position: preparing to fight for better working conditions for its members while a significant portion of its own workforce says it has failed to provide exactly that.