After seven weeks on strike, members of the Writers Guild Staff Union are losing their healthcare.
The staff typically has access to the same plan offered to the Writers Guild members through the Producer-Writers Guild of America Health Plan. Employees represented by the staff union earn coverage on a month-to-month basis if they worked 31 hours per week the previous month. But since the group — which includes over 100 workers across legal, communications and residuals departments — has been on strike, they are no longer eligible.
The staff union wrote on social media that it learned about the coverage loss through an online portal “just hours before this goes into effect.”
“This puts children, spouses and their own employees into a further state of crisis. We are in week seven of our strike. This is just the latest attempt by WGAW to bust our union and break our strike,” the union wrote in the Instagram post.
WGA West confirmed employees who receive health coverage on a month-to-month basis are no longer eligible for it as of April 1. The guild said in a statement that striking employees can elect COBRA continuation coverage if they want to be covered in April and that they “cannot make contributions on behalf of staff employees who did not work in March and have no earnings.”
The work stoppage was first called on Feb. 17, after the staff union alleged that management had no intention to reach an agreement on the pending contract. Negotiations between the WGA and its staff union started last September.
The staff union strike has also coincided with the WGA’s ongoing contract talks with Hollywood’s major film and TV studios. Their members’ current contract is set to expire on May 1. The guild hopes to improve its members’ healthcare plans, increase streaming residuals and expand AI protections. This is the first time the labor group has sat down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, since both WGA and SAG-AFTRA went on a historic strike in 2023.
Last week, the staffers sent a complete collective bargaining agreement to management, which union leaders described in a statement as “designed to bring this strike to a resolution.” Management has yet to agree on the proposal. Some of the outstanding negotiating points deal with seniority-based layoffs and promotions, as well as the right to strike mid-term in the contract.
WGA wrote in a statement that it has “negotiated a contract with the staff union that offers generous economic improvements and workplace protections that are among the best for any union staff in Los Angeles.”
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