WGA West staff strikes as talks with guild leadership fall apart

The staff of the Writers Guild Of America West accuses the union of unfair labor practices.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  February 17, 2026 | 4:53pm
(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
TV News Writers Guild of America
WGA West staff strikes as talks with guild leadership fall apart

Weeks before negotiations with the AMPTP are set to begin, the WGA West finds itself fighting a war within. The staff of the WGAW is now on strike after talks with the union broke down earlier this month. Members of the WGA staff, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union, are now picketing outside the WGAW’s Los Angeles headquarters, accusing the leadership of violating labor laws. The strike will affect between 100 and 150 workers, per Variety. In a statement, the Writers Guild Staff Union says, “Guild management has surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in bad faith surface bargaining, showing no intention to come to an agreement on most of WGSU’s core issues.” 

The WGA staff already picketed last week, fighting for “just cause” and seniority protections, and an improved wage scale, because 64% of its members earn less than $84,850 a year. “We would have never guessed that we would be so far apart that it felt like we were speaking different languages,” WGSU bargaining committee co-chair Dylan Holmes told Variety. A chart put out by the WGSU claims that the Guild refused to bargain over a provision that prevents the Guild from using “AI without bargaining the decision to do so, even if it’s used to surveil, hire, or discipline employees.” So that’s not great. The WGA also released a side-by-side chart of where negotiations are at. 

The strike hits the WGA at an inopportune time, as the wider WGA is set to begin contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Eagle-eyed readers might remember the AMPTP as the group that dragged out the 2023 strikes for months, and since then, the Hollywood studio landscape has become more consolidated and hungrier for AI. Nevertheless, the union says the talks will be “minimally impacted” because those working on the “WGA Negotiating Committee will not be on strike.”

 
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