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"When they get paid, we get paid"

After nutting out contract language the Writers’ Guild of America revealed to strike captains the basis of a tentative agreement. It is put to WGA board members on the West Coast today, and the East Coast tomorrow. They can effectively end the strike, allowing an interim ratification period allowing members to return to work while a paper ballot by rank and file members takes place.

The language by the union is one that encourages its members to vote for an end to the strike.

“It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery,” they said. “It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, ‘When they get paid, we get paid.’

WGA leaders said in the message that the time has come to end the strike and cited the “enormous personal toll on our members and countless others.”

“As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike,” they said.

“Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success.”

There are still some writers who believe the deal should be better than that reached by the Director’s Guild of America.

The lukewarm responses from some vocal members have raised the possibility of the guild staying on strike during the 10-day ratification process. WGA boards could also opt at Sunday’s meetings to trigger a special 48-hour ratification process, though that may not be as attractive if there’s significant dissent expressed at Saturday’s meetings.

Source: Variety

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