What Use Are Unions?

This week celebrates trades unions in the UK.  If you think of them in the context of fighting unfair dismissals and checking on safety in the workplace, you might not think of them as appropriate for writers, or an expensive indulgence.  However:

We have two writers’ unions in the UK, the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.  Legend has it (and this might be apocryphal) that back in the day, someone at one union felt it wasn’t worth dealing with TV, as that medium would never work out; so the other guild was born. Today, both unions cover all media.

Why join a union when you have an agent,who will negotiate your terms and fees, check your contracts, and be on the look-out for any opportunities for you? Well, guild minimum terms and rates are the foundations on which agents build.

Agents work in partnership with the unions,sharing our experience and expertise on contracts and other matters such as licensing, credits, respectful working practices, contract termination, etc.

And let’s not forget writers who, for one reason or another, don’t have agents. Guilds support thousands of writers, not just with advice and contract-checking, but often with hardship funds or initiatives such as the WGGB’s New Play Commission Scheme.

Finally, the unions lobby for writers, and – with funding cuts, decline of the number of commissions, downward trends of writers’ earnings, and the rise of AI – we’re in challenging times.  Even if you pay commission to your agent, it’s worth considering a subscription to one or both of the Society of Authors and the Writers’ Guild.

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