UPDATE 5-Hollywood writers call Monday strike vs. studios

Fri Nov 2, 2007 10:13pm EDT
 
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(Sunday morning bargaining session scheduled, 5th paragraph)

By Steve Gorman and Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The union representing U.S. screenwriters called for a strike against film and TV studios starting on Monday in a move giving negotiators one last weekend to reach a contract deal or shatter 20 years of Hollywood labor peace.

The strike deadline was issued on Friday, a day after a three-year contract covering the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America expired. It follows months of talks that deadlocked over the union's demands for a greater share of DVD and Internet revenues.

Each side has accused the other of stonewalling and refusing to budge from unreasonable proposals.

Union negotiators urged a walkout during a boisterous membership meeting on Thursday night, and the Writers Guild's governing board voted to ratify that recommendation.

Hours later, a studio spokesman said the two sides had scheduled a meeting for 10 a.m. Sunday.

Union leaders said at an afternoon news conference there still was time to avoid a strike that, if prolonged, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages.

"We have 48 hours and what we really want to do is negotiate," said John Bowman, chairman of the union's negotiating committee. He said that while reluctant to go on strike, the Writers Guild felt it had to act decisively.  Continued...

 

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