AMPTP Makes Counterproposal To WGA; Negotiations Recess But Will Resume Next Week

deadline.com:

After their first day of bargaining since the Writers Guild went on strike May 2, the AMPTP and the WGA have recessed their negotiations until next week after the companies made a counterproposal to guild’s proposals. “Your Negotiating Committee received a counterproposal from the AMPTP today,” the guild told its memers this evening. “We will evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA’s response next week.” “Sometimes more progress can be made in negotiations when they are conducted without a blow-by-blow description of the moves on each side and a subsequent public dissection of the meaning of the moves,” the guild said in its message. “That will be our approach, at least for the time being, until there is something of significance to report, or unless management uses the media or industry surrogates to try to influence the narrative.“The Guild always has the right to communicate with our members and will do so when we think there is news you need to know.

In the meantime, please continue to demonstrate your commitment by showing up to the picket lines: for yourselves, your fellow writers, SAG-AFTRA, fellow union members, and all those in our community who are impacted by the strikes.” Key issues in the 102-day-old strike include pay raises, viewership-based streaming residuals, the “preservation of the writers’ room” through minimum staffing and guaranteed days of employment, and guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence to write scripts.

Hopes first were raised for an end to the strike back on August 1, when AMPTP President Carol Lombardini invited the guild’s negotiating committee to meet on August 4 to discuss terms for the resumption of bargaining.