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NWGA president Daniel Petrie Jr says, "This is why we now
are taking our campaign public. The creative men and women who make
reality television possible work without health and pension benefits
or minimum salary protections or residuals. They often work under
oppressive conditions, among them near universal indifference to
and noncompliance with state and federal overtime laws. The Writers
Guild is committed to seeing the end of this 'Holly-Mart."
These storytellers have united to change these practices once and
for all, and they have the full support of our membership. Currently,
we are reaching out to our members to keep them apprised of recent
campaign developments. Nine thousand members of the WGA will receive
a special 'Reality TV Extra' issue of our newsletter, which tells
the stories of the writers, producers, and editors who help create
these successful shows."
Petrie says that companies that are signatory to the basic agreement
have chosen to engage in non-union production of reality TV. he
accused the conglomerates, the broadcast and cable networks, and
the reality production companies that reap the profits from licensing
and product integration deals of ignoring the rights of the men
and women who work for them.
"The responsible reaction for these companies would be to
sit down with the WGA and bargain a fair contract covering these
writers, producers, and editors. Collective bargaining is the right
of all employees as American citizens.
"We sincerely hope that the industry agrees to sit down immediately
and right these wrongs. The people working in reality TV deserve
the protections of health and pension benefits, minimum salary,
fair working conditions, and residuals — just like everyone else
in the industry. If the industry refuses, we are prepared to take
the actions necessary to achieve our goals and to assist the reality
TV workforce as they seek enforcement of state and federal overtime
laws."
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