Members of the Writers Guild of American overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract with Hollywood studios, the union announced Friday while hailing critical gains in health care and other provisions of the deal.
According to the WGA, 90.4% of union members voted in favor of the contract, which will run through May 1, 2030.
“In the face of industry contraction and runaway healthcare cost inflation, writers were able to secure a contract that returns our Health Fund to a sustainable path and builds on gains from the 2023 strike,” WGA West President Michele Mulroney and WGA East President Tom Fontana wrote in a message to union members Friday. “… Now our Guilds will turn to the core work of enforcing the MBA and ensuring writers are paid properly for our work, as we monitor the industry trends around streaming and AI. It’s our constant engagement and vigilance between negotiations that make our unions strong.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood studios, issued a statement congratulating the union for the ratification vote. The alliance said the contract “includes historic investments in the writers’ health plan, meaningful improvements in residuals and wages, and important safeguards for their work. This deal reflects a collaborative approach that supports both writers and the industry’s long-term stability.”
The AMPTP said it hopes the contract agreement with the writers will foretell success in ongoing negotiations with the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union and the Directors Guild of America.”
WGA officials noted that improvements in the health plan was “a key focus” of the contract negotiations. According to the union’s website, negotiators had a goal of “securing adequate funding to continue providing high-quality benefits to writers and their dependents.”
“In this agreement, we negotiated increased health contribution rates and caps along with diverting monies from the Paid Parental Leave Fund,” according to the union. “These increases and diversions are projected to result in a total of at least $321 million in additional contributions to the Health Fund over the term of the agreement, including $280 million in new contributions from the companies.”’
In 2023, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA both staged prolonged strikes that caused significant economic impact to the entertainment industry and related businesses before both unions reached three-year contract agreements with the AMPTP.