"The companies' behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing," the WGA said in a statement on its website.
Media companies are facing a tough economic backdrop. Conglomerates are under pressure from Wall Street to make their streaming services profitable after investing billions of dollars on programming to attract subscribers. The primary sticking points, the group said, were proposals that "would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not."
Writers say they have suffered financially during the streaming TV boom, in part due to shorter seasons and smaller residual payments. That means new episodes will not be available during their traditional TV time slots or on the streaming services that make them available the next day.