Writers Guild of America/East executive director Mona Mangan is travelling Aug. 10 to meet with her west coast counterpart, John McLean, Playbill On-Line has learned. In Los Angeles later today, the WGA executives are expected to discuss changes in the guild's negotiating strategy, including a return to traditional bargaining. For 12 years, the WGA has negotiated its Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) through the Contract Adjustment Committee (CAC). The guild is opting to move away from that strategy, where a group of writers negotiates along narrowly prescribed guidelines, in favor of addressing such broad issues as residuals for cable television and the internet.
Mangan appeared on CNN FN as recently as Aug. 9 to predict an eventual end to the bitter SAG strike and to denounce premature sabre rattling over claims that there will be an equally long and bitter strike for writers next year.
-- By Murdoch McBride
