Sure to delight movie studio chiefs and producers everywhere, the striking Writers Guild of America is about to be struck by its own downtrodden employees.
The East Coast branch of the striking guild – which has been fighting Hollywood brass for two months – has been waging a behind-the-scenes war with its own unionized staff members. The angry workers claim the writers are trying to stiff them on wage increases they negotiated last year.
The embarrassing battle began in early November over the staffers’ labor contract, which was ratified in October but has yet to be signed. They claim WGA East Executive Director Mona Mangan revised the contract after it was ratified and insisted they sign it.
The 19 WGA staffers include membership coordinators and assistants who have been providing support to WGA writers striking against the major media companies.
The Newspaper Guild, which reps the employees, yesterday filed countercharges against the WGA with the National Labor Relations Board alleging unfair labor practices. The WGA filed charges against the Newspaper Guild on Dec. 19.
“It’s like a car salesman demanding that you sign a contract after he’s changed all the numbers you had agreed upon,” said Newspaper Guild President Bill O’Meara.
The standoff became heated last month when Mangan told staffers their bonuses would be delayed until the contract dispute was resolved, according to e-mails reviewed by The Post.
“Frankly we cannot believe that the same people who we visit in [union] shops and see on the picket line every week, would sanction such Grinch-like behavior,” O’Meara said in an e-mail to Mangan last month.
The bonuses were paid but both sides still refused to sign the contract.
WGA writers have been striking for more than eight weeks in an attempt to get more pay for distribution of their content on the Web and other new media outlets.
“This issue is really not impacting the strike nor our operations on a daily basis,” a WGA spokeswoman said. “It’s strictly a contract interpretation issue and we think the fairest way to resolve this is to leave it in the hands of the NLRB. We are confident the board will give us a resolution.” zachery.kouwe@nypost.com