Hollywood Writers’ Unions Vote to Authorize Strike Against Producers -
By BROOKS BARNESAPRIL 24, 2017
LOS ANGELES — Unions representing 12,000 Hollywood writers said on Monday
that members had overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike, bringing show business closer to its first production shutdown in a decade.
In part because it provides extremely generous benefits — by some measures, studios say, better than coverage
offered to other Hollywood unions — the writers’ health fund has begun to run steep deficits.
But leaders of the two writers’ unions, which bargain as one, say
that the middle-class majority of their members are struggling as never before, even as television production booms in the video-streaming age and some blockbusters take in more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Leaders of the Writers Guild of America, East, and the Writers Guild of America, West,
announced the results of an online strike authorization vote in an email to members.
The unions said that 6,310 eligible members voted; 96 percent of the vote was in favor of a strike.
Networks are ordering fewer episodes per season — as few as 10 compared with 22
just a few years ago — so series writing jobs pay less than they once did.