Global solidarity with Writers Guild strike

The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG), Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) and UNI Global Union (UNI-MEI) organized global in-person and social-media protests June 14 in a “Screenwriters Everywhere: International Day of Solidarity” with the Writers Guild (WGA) strike that began on May 1 — International Workers Day. Many of the actions took place outside local offices of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Japanese solidarity.  Credit: @UNILCJapan

Writers in at least 35 countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, South Korea and Ukraine participated in these actions.

IAWG Chair Thomas McLaughlin stated: “The companies that seek to exploit and diminish writers are global; our response is global, and the victory gained in America will be a victory for screenwriters everywhere.” (National Public Radio, June 14)

These international writers unions have issued guidelines urging members not to scab, taking jobs away from WGA members. Jobs are being offered by transnational conglomerates like Amazon, Netflix and Disney, which are driven to make profits at the expense of writers’ income and livelihoods.

As was pointed out in a June 2, 2023, WW article, “WGA-West and WGA-East are fighting for decent compensation in the midst of an entertainment industry restructuring. The growth of streaming over network programming, the replacement of long-term series with miniseries, and the use of “mini-rooms,” where writers create episodes for only a short number of weeks but are not involved in the full production of a show, have all cut into WGA members’ income and future work potential. Writers fear being turned into gig workers and/or being replaced altogether by artificial intelligence.” (workers.org/2023/06/71294/)