Mediator Asks Meeting in WGA Strike

Federal mediator Leonard Farrell has asked top negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to meet with him Saturday at 1 p.m.

“This strike has gone on too long. It’s absolutely out of hand. There are too many people unemployed,” Farrell said in a telephone interview Wednesday. The writers’ strike is in its 20th week.

The mediator said both sides advised him that they would attend the session, which is to take place at the alliance’s Sherman Oaks headquarters.

Earlier sessions convened by Farrell eventually led to a revised producers’ contract offer in June, but that offer was rejected by guild members. The federal mediator can convene meetings, but doesn’t have authority to arbitrate labor disputes.

Separately, a group of guild members have scheduled a “solidarity rally” for 8 tonight at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City.

Timothy Wurtz, one of the rally’s organizers, said the session is an attempt to prove that “4,000 working writers do indeed want a deal that will end the strike, but we want it ended without jeopardizing the guild’s strike posture.” Wurtz emphasized that the rally is not officially sponsored by the guild, but that all members are invited.

On the union’s telephone hot line, guild President George Kirgo said that both he and chief guild negotiator Brian Walton expect to attend the rally.