British, Canadian writers’ guilds pledge solidarity with WGA as strike looms

A WGA rally in Century City, LA in 2007

Writers’ guilds in Britain and Canada have come out in support of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) as the clock counts down to a potential strike on May 1.

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) said in a statement that it supported the WGA’s efforts to gain an improved contract and has advised its members not to work on projects under WGA jurisdiction – a practice known as “scabbing” – if American TV scribes go on strike.

“The WGGB supports the WGA in their ongoing negotiations. If a strike cannot be avoided, we will advise our membership not to work on projects within the jurisdiction of the WGA for the duration of the strike in line with our International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG) agreements,” said the British guild.

The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has also backed the WGA in its contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP).

“In the unfortunate event of a WGA strike, WGC members will not accept work that is normally within the jurisdiction of the WGA; for example, US-based productions and productions that are already under a WGA contract,” WGC executive director Victoria Shen told C21.

“The WGA are our closest colleagues. We are both members of the IAWG. We respect each other’s jurisdiction and support one another in advancing the rights of screenwriters around the world.”

WGGB and WGC’s public backing comes after the WGA on Tuesday opened strike authorisation voting for its members. Online voting began on Tuesday and will close on Monday April 17. The purpose of the strike authorisation vote is to put the guild in a position to strike on May 1 if a new deal cannot be reached, and to give it greater leverage as negotiations continue.

Bargaining between the WGA and AMPTP officially started on March 20. Last week, as it called the strike authorisation vote, the WGA said in a note to its members that AMPTP had “shown no sign that they intend to address the problems our members are determined to fix in this negotiation.”

As the potential of a strike has inched closer, high-profile North American writers have increasingly taken to social media to publicly back the guild. Those writers include Yellowjackets co-creator Ashley Lyle, who said the studios and streamers “have been getting away with murder and they know it” over the way writers are compensated in the streaming age.