WGA prez fires back at IATSE's Short

WGA President Patric M. Verrone today issued the following statement in response to a letter .received from International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) President Thomas Short:

Dear Tom,

I am in receipt of your letter of November 13th.

As I'm sure you know, for every four cents writers receive in theatrical residuals, directors receive four cents, actors receive 12 cents, and the members of your union receive 20 cents in contributions to their health fund.

To put it simply, our fight should be your fight. We've received support from the Teamsters, the actors, many IATSE members, and unions throughout the world.

As we've stated clearly, we are willing to negotiate; we have wanted to negotiate; we are here to negotiate. Despite the fact that the AMPTP conceded progress was being made on November 4th, the last day of negotiations, they walked out and have not returned.

So please help us by doing everything you can to get the AMPTP to come back to the table and settle this strike, which, as you say, is devastating to your members, to our members, and to the entire town.

In solidarity,
Patric M. Verrone

More news on the strike

Comments

[Michael Raysses]

WGA writers aren't hurting! Remember in 2000 they wouldn't even support the leaders of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO when they striked by 8,500 janitors in Los Angeles County, asking for terms that are far short of the workers' demands for living wages?

[slgalt]

WGA and all the Hollywood unions have an imposed No Strike rule, not allowing them to sympathy strike. This is one of the things the WGA is fighting with the corporations about.

[Michael Raysses]

For the record, I would just like to state that the opinion of one "Michael Raysses" as listed here is of one of my cousins who happen to share my name, Though he is certainly entitled to his opinion on this matter, I want to go on record as stating that as a twenty-three year member of both SAG and AFTRA, I wholy support the efforts of the Writers' Guild in their struggle to achieve a fair and equitable share of the revenues generated by DVD sales and Internet usage.

Respectfully submitted,

The other Michael Raysses