WHERE WE STAND ...

Statement from AMPTP President Nick Counter:

We have had six across the table sessions and have been met with only silence and stonewalling from the WGA leadership.  We have attempted to engage on major issues, but no dialogue has been forthcoming from the WGA leadership.  This is the most frustrating and futile attempt at bargaining that anyone on the AMPTP negotiating team has encountered in Guild negotiation history.

The WGA leadership apparently has no intention to bargain in good faith.  The WGA leadership is hidebound to strike.  We are farther apart today than when we started and the only outcome we see is a disaster engineered by the present leadership of the WGA.

Today’s session was cut short when WGA’s negotiators (after less than an hour) opted to go home at 11:30 a.m. after our negotiators tried to get them to discuss the WGA’s proposals.  The WGA leadership stated that they would not be available again until Tuesday, leaving us with only three weeks to deal with these incredibly complex issues.

The WGA leadership refuses to engage in any sort of discussion, much less bargaining, on either our proposals or theirs.  We have presented empirical data to support our positions. Our presentations are met with no questions, interchange or any attempt to come to an agreement.

WGA’s leadership continues to ignore the business challenges facing our industry and the impact a strike would have on their working members, their health plans and the other Guilds and Unions.