Writers' strike reveals profound cultural and social divide

The AMPTP broke off negotiations, charging WGA leaders with pursuing “an ideological agenda” that is at odds with the economic needs of their membership. Behind the calculated choice of words—which are ominous, given the history of bitter battles of Hollywood writers against political persecution and blacklisting in the 1930s and 1950s—is a transparent attempt to intimidate and divide the writers. Meanwhile, the producers pose as the true friends of writers, who are asked to join in a “new economic partnership” with the AMPTP that would dilute writers’ present level of control over their work.

In this insidious campaign, the AMPTP counts on the help of sections of the media. This is exemplified by a New York Times article published on December 10, which refers to the writers’ non-economic demands as part of a “writers’ revolution” that, the paper warns, would result in a “radical shift in union power.” These demands—the expansion of the closed shop, by bringing non-union “reality show” writers into the WGA, the right to honor another union’s picket line, and the right to oversee intra company transactions that may affect writers’ wages—are elementary demands, without which the effect of strikes would be emasculated