The Power Of Solidarity, Necessary Sacrifices, And The Value Of Collective Action Dashboard Dashboard

By Tom Schulman
(10/16/2020)

The WGA was once a much different institution. I discovered that when I served on the second negotiating committee of 1998 and on the negotiating committees of 2001 and 2004. As I learned about the history of the Guild and watched us negotiate, it became clear to me that in that era the WGA was suffering from a kind of institutional PTSD as a result of the 1988 strike. ’88 was the longest strike in WGA history—five months—we lost it, and as a result the Guild’s subsequent negotiating stance was guided by the conviction that no strike, whatever the stakes, was worth the cost. That led to a situation where the Guild leadership did little or nothing to organize the membership for fear that would agitate the companies, refused to call for strike authorization votes for fear an unorganized membership would vote them down, and generally tried to negotiate contracts with well-reasoned arguments rather than from a position of strength. By 2004, it was clear that if the Guild was going to be an effective bargainer for its members, that mindset would need to change.

Fortunately I wasn’t alone in that assessment, so in 2005 ten other like-minded colleagues and I, calling ourselves Writers United, ran for the Guild’s Board and officers’ positions. Our platform was simple: members should be regularly informed about the issues, asked to understand and embrace the notion that the Guild is in fact a union, and organized through a captains system to take action if necessary. Writers United won all eight board seats and all three officers’ positions in 2005, and in the next election cycle a year later won all eight remaining board seats. We hired David Young as the Guild’s new Executive Director, and the kinds of policies and philosophy put in place back then still guide the Guild today.

My experience on the board was that the vast majority of Guild members understand the power of solidarity and are willing to make the kinds of sacrifices necessary to enable the Guild to fight for us all. It was heartening and inspiring to work with and for such a smart, selfless and hard working group of people. My experience was also that there was and is a small percentage of Guild members who don’t remember what past members sacrificed for us. For example, in 1960 all writers who wrote prior to that year agreed to forever give up any claim to past residuals so that the writers who came after them could get residuals. Can you imagine writing dozens of episodes of wildly successful shows like, say, I Love Lucy, and never collecting a penny in residuals? That’s the sacrifice those writers in 1960 made for us. From the 1960’s to the 1980’s, Guild members had to strike for a total of almost a year to win us the pension, health and other benefits we have today.

My hope is that in time all Guild members will come to see the value of collective action and join in keeping the Guild relevant and strong for everyone. Despite our gains over the decades, I believe that as a group, writers continue to be highly valued but grossly underpaid, and it remains my hope that a united Guild will remedy that.

Finally, during my time on the board I came to appreciate the support of other unions such as SAG, the Teamsters, and the SEIU. I also learned that one law—The Taft Hartley Act of 1947, passed over the veto of President Truman—hamstrings organizing efforts by the Guild and all unions, and perhaps more than any other piece of domestic legislation, is responsible for the steady decline in workers’ income and the hollowing out of the middle class in this country. Taft Hartley makes it almost inevitable that workers who try to organize themselves into unions face being fired. Over the decades it has left workers underpowered, underpaid, and susceptible to populist propaganda. As writers, part of our responsibility is to shine a light on inequity and injustice, and I hope that along with our support for women, people of color and the LGBTQ community, our Guild will continue to support both other unions and legislative changes that will lead to a more just America for all.

Tom Schulman is an Academy Award-winning and Writers Guild Award-nominated screenwriter (Dead Poets Society, What About Bob?, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Welcome to Mooseport) who served as WGAW Vice President (2009-11), as well as a member of the Board of Directors (2005-09). In addition, he served as the Writers Guild Foundation’s President (1995-01), WGF Vice President (2006-09), and on the WGF Board (1994-2003, 2005-14, 2018-present). In 2008, Schulman received the WGAW’s Valentine Davies Award for his service to the entertainment industry and community at large, and has served on numerous Guild committees over the years, including WGA’s MBA Negotiating Committee in 1998, 2001, and 2004 (Vice Chair). His additional screenwriting credits include Medicine Man, Holy Man, Second Sight, and 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag, which he directed.