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Writers strike ends as union leaders back deal pending members' vote
VOL. 11,
NO. 140
Clarence Thomas secretly participated in Koch network donor events By Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica
By City News Service
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
increases in pay for writers employed on TV series, along with employment guarantees for set numbers of writers on series, based on the number of episodes being produced. A full summary prepared by the WGA of the contract proposal is online at wgacontract2023.org/thecampaign/summary-of-the2023-wga-mba. WGA members were joined on picket lines in mid-July by the SAG-AFTRA actors' union, effectively grinding all production to a halt. With the WGA strike seemingly resolved, the focus is expected to shift to negotiations with actors, likely using the writers' union contract proposal as a template on some issues — although actors are seeking steeper increases in salary. There has been no official word of any planned resumption of negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP.
Series: Friends of the Court:SCOTUS Justices’ Beneficial Relationships With Billionaire Donors upreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation's highest court. On Jan. 25, 2018, dozens of private jets descended on Palm Springs International Airport. Some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising lay ahead. Just after 6 p.m., a Gulfstream G200 jet touched down on the tarmac. One of the Koch network’s most powerful allies was on board: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. During the summit, the justice went to a private dinner for the network’s donors. Thomas has attended Koch donor events at least twice over the years, according to interviews with three former network employees and one major donor. The justice was brought in to speak, staffers said, in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving. That puts Thomas in the extraordinary position of having served as a fundraising draw for a network that has brought cases before the Supreme Court, including one of the most closely watched of the upcoming term. Thomas never reported the 2018 flight to Palm Springs on his annual financial disclosure form, an apparent violation of federal law requiring justices to report most gifts. A Koch network spokesperson said the network did not pay for the private jet. Since Thomas didn’t disclose it, it’s not clear who did pay. Thomas’ involvement in the events is part of a yearslong, personal relationship with the Koch brothers that has remained almost entirely out of public view. It developed over years of trips to the Bohemian Grove, a secretive all-men’s retreat in Northern California. Thomas has been a regular at the Grove for two decades, where he stayed in a small camp with real estate billionaire Harlan Crow and the Kochs, according to records and people who’ve spent time with him there. A spokesperson for the Koch network, formally known as Stand Together, did not answer detailed questions about his role at the Palm Springs events but said, “Thomas wasn’t present for fundraising conversations.”
See WGA Page 28
See Clarence Thomas Page 13
S The 2023 WGA Negotiating Committee. | Photo courtesy of Writers Guild of America West/X
T
he nearly five-month Hollywood writers strike officially ended early Wednesday, one day after union leaders endorsed a proposed contract agreement with Hollywood studios, setting the stage for a ratification vote by union members. With the strike that began May 2 formally called off as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, writers were free to return to work. However, it was unclear how many will actually do so, as some might continue to honor SAG-AFTRA picket lines. WGA negotiating committee members earlier this week encouraged writers who are able to continue supporting the striking actors on their picket lines. "This (end of the WGA strike) allows writers to return to work during the ratification process, but does not affect the membership's right to make a final determination on contract approval," the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee
wrote in a message to union members Tuesday. "There will be meetings for current members this week before the ratification vote begins." The ratification vote by the roughly 11,500 members of the WGA is expected to be held Oct. 2-9. The proposed three-year contract agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, was announced Sunday night after five consecutive days of negotiating sessions, at least some of which were attended by the so-called "Gang of Four" group of top studio executives — Netflix's Ted Sarandos, Disney's Bob Iger, Universal's Donna Langley and Warner Bros/Discovery's David Zaslav. With the boards of the WGA's East Coast and West Coast branches endorsing the deal Tuesday, the union also released the first detailed overview of the agreement, which includes stepped increases of minimum salaries which
will jump by 5% upon ratification, 4% in May 2024 and 3.5% in May 2025. There are also increases in health and pension contributions. The proposed contract also includes restrictions on studios' use of artificial intelligence, barring AI from writing or rewriting literary material and preventing AI-generated material from being considered source material, meaning it can't "undermine a writer's credit." The proposal also includes a new residual formula for streaming program that boosts pay for particularly successful programs. According to the guild, shows or films "that are viewed by 20% or more of the service's domestic subscribers in the first 90 days of release, or in the first 90 days in any subsequent exhibition year, get a bonus equal to 50% of the fixed domestic and foreign residual, with views calculated as hours streamed domestically of the season or film divided by runtime." Also included are