The Guild's AGM 2007

By Tom Green

The Agenda for this year's AGM looked unusually brief, but by the time the Guild's Chair, Katharine Way, declared the meeting closed at 5pm, a huge amount of ground had, in fact, been covered.

There was only one actual motion for discussion. Proposed by David Evans and Julian Friedmann, it called for Candidate Members to be entitled to vote at future AGMs in order to present "a non-mandatory indication of their views". David and Julian made it clear that they favoured  giving Candidates full voting rights, but, since that had proved controversial in the past, they thought this might be a good first step.

Several speakers in the debate that followed agreed with the motion, but other s felt that the proposal as it stood would not be workable and that it would be better to discuss the principal behind it directly. Indeed, a number of speakers said they would support full voting rights but could not back the motion as it stood. In the end a slightly amended version of the motion was carried, but it failed by less than a single vote to gain the two-thirds majority required for a rule change. There seemed to be a consensus in the meeting that a motion proposing extending full voting rights to Candidate Members should be brought forward for debate at next year's AGM.

The other main topic of discussion [at the WGGB AGM] was a proposal from the Guild's Executive Committee (EC) that the Guild should step down from the board of the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).

This, as ALCS Board Members Robert Taylor and Gail Renard explained, was not an outcome that had initially been sought by the Guild. However, following a thorough Governance review by the Board of ALCS, and in partnership with the Guild and the Society of Authors, it was proposed that the removal of the category of Corporate Membership at ALCS, in tandem with other governance changes was now in the best interest of all organisations. ALCS will make a goodwill gesture to both societies in recognition of their support over the last 3 decades.

The proposal, details of which were emailed to Guild members prior to the AGM, was supported overwhelmingly by the AGM.

This proposal will now be taken to the ALCS AGM in November 2007 for formal approval by the ALCS Membership.

The Craft Committee Reports contained in the Annual Report (also sent to all members) were also discussed and voted on. In many respects it has clearly been an excellent year, with significant progress in negotiations across many different media. At a time when writers are facing rapid change with new platforms being introduced and terms sought for access to old material, the Guild is making sure that their rights and livelihoods are protected.

The only low note was the continued need to increase recruitment. Membership numbers are slightly higher than last year but membership income has fallen. A major recruitment initiative is already underway - partly based on pointing out to professional writers that the higher rates they'll be getting from new agreements are down to the Guild - and Guild Treasurer Robert Taylor also urged existing members to try and recruit at least one person each in the coming year.

The meeting concluded with the formal announcement that David Edgar is taking over as the Guild's President for a three-year term. He thanked his predecessor, David Nobbs, outlined his aspiration to help raise the Guild's profile and ended the meeting by signing the new TNC agreement with the major non-West End theatres, on which he led the Guild's negotiating team.

Article last updated: 08.06.2007