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AMPTP's Open Letter Calls WGA's Tactics "Unreasonable" and "Impractical"
The following was posted Monday morning on the (real) AMPTP website:
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
As the WGA-initiated strike now enters its seventh week, the strike's economic consequences are growing more severe by the day. The below-the-line workers whose families depend entirely on our industry have already lost more than $200 million in the Los Angeles area alone, and the health care benefits for many of these families are now in real jeopardy because of the WGA strike. The working writers themselves have now lost more than $115 million, and these writers are no closer today to getting their fair share of new media revenues than they were when the strike began. The economic impact to our regional economy is also growing. By January, the economic losses to the region will exceed $200 million a month, with as many as a third of the entertainment industry's 250,000 jobs jeopardized.
In the face of these crippling losses and the real hardships that average working families are now facing during the holidays, we wonder whether the people in charge at the WGA now regret openly bragging in the media that "we are winning this strike," or appearing before the cameras like "a rock star" (to use the description offered by the WGA's chief negotiator David Young).
According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Young quipped, "I just lay back and look at the havoc I've wreaked." "Havoc" has certainly been "wreaked" by the WGA's actions, but it is now clear that there are no "winners" in this strike. Simply put, this strike cannot be resolved until the working writers — who are a valued and vital part of our business community — decide that their union should adopt a reasonable, consistent and practical negotiating strategy.
It is simply not reasonable to persuade union members to authorize a strike over new media issues — and then to create a negotiating deadlock over jurisdictional issues that would have little benefit for working writers. It is not consistent to proclaim at a rally one day that the jurisdictional issues will be in the final contract, while saying the next day that this strike is about new media. And it is simply not practical to lurch day by day from one tactic to another — filing a specious NLRB complaint on one day, and then a day later defying long-standing industry practices by embarking on the doomed strategy of company-by-company negotiations.
Unfortunately for all of us, the WGA's existing unreasonable, inconsistent and impractical negotiating strategy is guaranteed to produce only losers in this strike. The WGA's organizers refused to engage in early bargaining and then started this strike, and their subsequent negotiating tactics have ensured that the hardships suffered by below-the-line workers and their families will continue to worsen.
More strike coverage:
• Leno and Conan Strike Back, Return to Work Jan. 2
• SAG Backs WGA, Saying, "It's Time for the AMPTP to Return to the Table"
• WGA to Talk with Individual Studios; AMPTP Calls It "Grasping for Straws"
• Ausiello's chart: How many episodes are left of your favorite shows?
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Dec 17, 2007 10:41 AM
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It's hard to believe that they're seriously putting out statements like this.
The more they open their mouths, the deeper they stick their feet in - they just keep reinforcing the stereotypes of cold greedy bureaucrats.
I hope the WGA is able to reach an agreement with one of the networks, and I hope the government takes a hard look at the studio's methods of "negotiation" and whether it should be considered collusion or price fixing. If in any other industry all the major corporations joined forces to set wages, would it be allowed to happen? No way.
The WGA (and other unions) probably just shouldn't be negotiating with the studios as a group and instead should stick with separate negotiations. It probably would have been smarter to just strike at one network at a time - it would put each individual network at a huge competitive disadvantage and cause much quicker financial hardship.
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Dec 17, 2007 11:24 AM
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The working writers themselves have now lost more than $115 million, and these writers are no closer today to getting their fair share of new media revenues than they were when the strike began.
I think AMPTP is genuinely surprised at the fact that the writers are not interested in the kitchen scraps that it is offering for online and new media royalties. I imagine that it is even surprised that most people are still backing the writers, despite all of the spin it is putting on this strike. It makes me wonder how much money it is spending on PR that could be used towards paying royalties on new media.
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Dec 17, 2007 1:55 PM
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"Unreasonable" and "Impractical"
LOL, surely it is "Unreasonable" and "Impractical" to walk out of negotiations because you can't get everything you want and gut the industry so you can line your own pockets while paying your employees peanuts
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Dec 17, 2007 2:17 PM
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I love how they ardently claim "the WGA's existing unreasonable, inconsistent and impractical negotiating strategy" and give no real examples of how exactly they've been inconsistent and impractical, on top of how the "unreasonable" part is that the writers want, literally, a few cents more. Way to promote libel, AMPTP!
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Dec 17, 2007 2:31 PM
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Not to mention that the WGA is willing to negotiate while the studios flat out refuse to even show up unless the writers offer to give up ALL the major points!
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Dec 17, 2007 2:42 PM
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Hey there..what are jurisdicitional issues? I just want to be clear as to what the AMPTP is trying to claim.
Meanwhile, if they are so worried about the below-the-line workers, perhaps they should get their behinds back to the negotiating table! Thanks
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Dec 17, 2007 4:54 PM
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Summer76, I believe the "jurisdictional issues" bit refers to reality and animation shows, which are not covered under the WGA contract. The WGA wants those shows' writers to be included; the AMPTP obviously doesn't.
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Dec 17, 2007 5:20 PM
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You have to wonder if the person they have writing these dreck statements they release has a soul, or if he had to sell it for a more noble cause. I just can't imagine someone with writing talent actually coming up with this utter crap in good conscience unless his/her family is being held hostage or something ala season 1 of 24.
What a bunch of hypocrites. Everyone, rub your thumbs and forefingers together to create an orchestra of the worlds' smallest violins for these people who can't seem to find the desire to return to the negotiating table.
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Dec 17, 2007 8:06 PM
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Wow.
All you WGA sheep really are just confirming Rupert Murdoch's statement rather than disproving it. All of this whining and villifying of the evil corporate suits is exactly what Murdoch was talking about when he said that the WGA tactics were meant to spin it as the poor struggling artists versus the soulless corporate machine.
The public's support for the WGA WILL wane more and more the longer the hardball tactics continue. I thought the strike was allegedly about new media revenue. OK, then why all this jurisdictional nonsense? It's unrelated to the issues upon which the strike was allegedly founded, so the AMPTP actually has a decent argument there. The whole jurisdictional question is also a blatant example of the WGA trying to bully everyone into doing exactly what they want.
I was livid when I heard this morning that the WGA wouldn't agree to grant a strike waiver to award shows, which are nothing more than celebrations of their own art. That's just pure spite. And I thought the bullying tactics couldn't get any more blatant.
The sad thing about strikes is that the consumer is ALWAYS hurt more than anyone. Eventually, the consumer stops caring about the product, and when the strike eventually ends, the consumer will have decided that he or she can live without the product and the strikers will be worse off than they were before. The AMPTP knows this and you better believe they are going to exploit it. It's amazing that the WGA is too stubborn and blind to see this, and I wait with anticipation for the public to turn on the WGA--it's amazing it hasn't already happened.
And I have yet to hear what the WGA's arguments are for pushing the jurisdictional issues when the strike was supposedly about new media. It seems to me that the WGA just wants to bully the networks into having nothing to replace scripted material, hence strengthening their "negotiating" position. Like I said, the strike is blatant bullying, and it's truly amazing how few people see that.
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Dec 18, 2007 9:17 AM
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mahlerfan
whilst you do make some valid points(the reality and animation proposals were not necessary) you seem to conveniently forget the AMPTP walked out of negotiations on the friday with a pre-prepared statement that was written on the tuesday. they have shown no interest in talking just issueing blank statements slagging off the writers and are in fact doing a great deal of bullying themselves
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Dec 18, 2007 2:30 PM
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But from what I have been able to gather, the WGA's negotiating tactics consisted of demanding everything they wanted with no compromise. It seems to me that the AMPTP walkout and ultimatum were based on the fact that the WGA was not really negotiating, just demanding, as evidenced by their blanket rejection of every single AMPTP proposal.
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Dec 18, 2007 6:29 PM
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no one can deny the guild hasn't handled these negotiations well but the guild did make one major concession, the dvd formula, yet the AMPTP has made no concessions in the major areas of contention and these ads with the 8 big CEO's signing stinks of attempts at price fixing and collusion
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Dec 18, 2007 7:12 PM
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Yeah, MahlerFan, I think one of the big things at this point is the fact that the WGA was told they HAD to give up ALL SIX of their points before the AMPTP would even negotiate with them. Well, negotiations are a give and take, and if I know the writers, they're a lot smarter than most people and I think they have the AMPTP pretty figured out. The writer's want one thing the most: fair residuals on new media. There's probably 2 or 3 of the other issues they also want and so, in order to "negotiate fairly" with the AMPTP they're waiting until they can "give up" two or three of their six items and then settle on three or four of them to end this strike with.
It seems fair. If the WGA was to come out and say "We really only want these three bullet points" then it would be over for them because the AMPTP would NEVER give it to them, they'd just keep arguing back and forth. At least if the WGA is willing to give up a few of their six points before the end, they'll get what they really want and hopefully make the AMPTP look even more monstrous if they deny the WGA three or even four of their main issues (which they, most undoubtedly, will)
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Dec 18, 2007 8:16 PM
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While I admit I do not completely understand the details of this dispute, I can't help but be concerned about the other people who will be out of jobs due to this strike. What happens to the crew members, the hair & makeup staff, the pages, etc.? I will miss my favorite television shows, but at least I will have a job to return to every morning.
I will show up for work tomorrow because, in my world, I would be FIRED if I didn't. Unfortunately, though, when I come home from work in January, tired & looking forward to catching a new episode of one of my favorite shows with my family, I will either have to settle for re-runs or pick up a movie at Blockbuster.
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Dec 19, 2007 12:17 AM
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