Motions to the 2025 WGGB AGM

The following five motions were debated at the 2025 AGM and the results of voting are shown below

1) TUC CONFERENCES – MOTION CARRIED

We welcome the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s increasing involvement with the wider Trades Union Congress (TUC) movement. In recent years we have moved motions at the TUC Black Workers’ Conference and received unanimous support from our sibling unions. Our presence at cross-union events places us firmly within the trades union landscape and allows us a voice and an opportunity to share our workplace-specific concerns with other workers from across British society.

We note that other TUC conferences – LGBTQ+, Deaf and Disabled, Women’s, Young Workers, and the Racial Justice and Equality Conference – take place throughout the year, and the WGGB is invited to send two delegates to each. Currently, WGGB invites members of the Equality and Diversity Committee to attend – but those places are not always taken up. As a result, the WGGB does not always have a presence at the TUC conferences.

Motion: The AGM calls upon the WGGB to

• Inform the membership of upcoming TUC conferences via the weekly newsletters
• Allow all WGGB members to be invited to be delegates at TUC Conferences if those places are not taken by Equality and Diversity Committee members

2) CRAFT COMMITTEE CHAIR – AMENDED MOTION FELL

To be Chair of a Craft Committee, it’s in the Guild’s and Committee’s best interest for any Chair to be working professionally in the area they want to represent.

Experience is needed to represent the Guild in the industry, and in trade union negotiations. An experienced Chair is necessary to be able to lead the Committee, and to advise Guild about issues of concern in their chosen craft area.

Motion, to amend rule 15.2, adding the following sentence to rule 15.2: The Chair should currently be a professional working writer within their craft area, which could include writers’ rooms and other avenues of development (within the last 5 years).

Rule 15.2 currently reads:

15.2 Members in each Craft Sector shall have the right to elect one representative to sit on the Executive Council and as Chair of the relevant Craft Committee.

Rule 15.2 to be amended to:

15.2 Members in each Craft Sector shall have the right to elect one representative to sit on the Executive Council and as Chair of the relevant Craft Committee. The Chair should be a professional writer currently (within the last 5 years) working in that craft area.

Note: Under Rule 31.1 this rule-changing motion requires the support of two-thirds of the Full Members present and voting at the meeting. 

3) UNION SUBSCRIPTIONS – MOTION CARRIED

Over the past two financial years (2023 and 2024) the WGGB has been operating in a deficit and had to draw on reserves to meet our costs. The Finance Committee of the Executive Council have taken steps to reduce our expenditure, but we forecast that we will still have a deficit at the end of 2025 albeit a smaller one than the past two years.

Prior to 2023 we had increased our income by growing our membership and this enabled us to increase our staffing levels to support the increased membership. Since 2023, due to increased costs across the board, we now need to increase our subscriptions fees so that we can continue to meet the needs of our members.

The last time we increased subscriptions was in 2015. Had we applied an inflationary (RPI) increase to the subscriptions year on year, then band A would currently be £299 per year rather than £198. The Finance Committee rejected applying an increase based purely on inflation and looked instead at options between 5% – 20%.  They also considered that any increase should be affordable to professional writers.

Having considered multiple options, a 10% increase is recommended by the Executive Council to the AGM.

Such an increase would see the lowest band (band A) rise from £16.50 pm to £18.16, an increase of £1.66 per month. It is hoped that the increase will generate an additional estimated income of £70,000 per year.

(a) SUBCRIPTION INCREASE 

Motion: This AGM resolves to increase all WGGB member subscriptions by 10%, and to amend the rules of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain as set out below with effect from 1 December 2025. Each proposed change has been highlighted in bold and underlined.

Rule 23.3 Full Members whose annual earnings from writing were less than £18,000 shall pay a subscription of £198.

Delete £198 substitute with £218

Rule 23.4 Full Members whose annual earnings from writing were £18,000 or more shall pay a subscription determined by a writing income banding system to be set and reviewed by the Executive Council at its discretion up to a maximum subscription of £2,000.

Delete £2000 substitute with £2200

Rule 23.5 No member shall be required to pay more than £2,000 per year

Delete £2000 with £2200

Proposer: Executive Council. 

Note: Under Rule 31.1 this rule-changing motion requires the support of two-thirds of the Full Members present and voting at the meeting. 

If agreed by the AGM, these changes will come into effect on 1 December 2025 onwards.

(b) BANDING SYSTEM

This AGM approves the changes to the union subscription banding system listed under Appendix E of the WGGB Rule Book.

Motion: amend Appendix E, delete the current annual subscription table and substitute it with the new annual subscription table set out below.

Proposed by the Executive Council

Note: Under Rule 23.5, should the E.C. wish to increase any band by more than 2% in the 12 months between AGMs, the following AGM must approve or reject the increase by a simple yes/no vote. Where a no vote is recorded the increase in any band cannot be more than 2%.

If confirmed, these changes will come into effect on 1 December 2025 onwards.

4) DEFENDING AGAINST CENSORSHIP – MOTION CARRIED

We are concerned by the increasingly censorious cultural landscape impacting writers. The past months have seen threats to our freedom of expression and creeping authoritarianism around critique of government and powerful corporations.

This is an industrial issue that disproportionately impacts minoritised writers. Our cultural sector is at risk of losing the gains in diversity that have been made in recent years, and of not being able to foster the range of opinion vital for a healthy cultural landscape.

 Motion: This AGM calls for the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain to:

• Publicly and vocally defend the rights of writers to critique government policy, and support WGGB members facing censorship because their work critiques government policy or corporations.
• Lobby the government to work with trade unions on guidance that affirms writers’ freedom of expression, working towards a position whereby Arts Council-funded organisations support writers’ freedom to critique government policy and corporations.
• Facilitate networking and information-sharing about censorship between members via members’ forums and workshops, the outcome of which will be shared with the Executive Committee and inform Guild policy.

5) ONLINE VOTING – MOTION CARRIED

This motion recommends that we the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) work with TUC’s current campaign to change the law to allow online ballots in all WGGB elections. With the aim of enhancing member participation, improving accessibility, and align the Guild’s governance practices with current standards of inclusivity and transparency, as soon as legislation permits.

At present, members must attend AGMs in person (over zoom) to exercise their voting rights and if more than one person stands for a Writers’ Guild Exec position, then postal ballots will be sent out to every eligible voting member.

This requirement unintentionally excludes a significant portion of the membership, including:

• Those living outside of the UK/overseas (different time zones)
• Members with disabilities or chronic and/or fluctuating health issues
• Individuals with caring responsibilities or conflicting work commitments
• Those facing financial or logistical barriers (uneven and unreliable postal services geographically)

As a result, important decisions may not fully reflect the views of the wider membership.

Benefits of the inclusion of Online Voting

Improved Accessibility: Introducing broader online voting options would allow all members, regardless of location or personal circumstance to participate meaningfully in AGMs. An example of an online electoral service is Mi-Vote (used by the Society of Authors, the Royal Society of Literature and the International Comparative Literature Association).

Greater Inclusion and Representation: Helps to ensure that underrepresented voices are heard and that voting outcomes better reflect the diversity of the Guild’s membership.

Increased Engagement and Transparency: Facilitating broader participation can strengthen trust in the Guild’s decision-making processes and encourage greater member engagement in its democratic structures.

Motion: To help make the WGGB more accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of its members, the AGM is calling for:

• The Executive Committee to work with the TUC’s campaign to change legislation to allow for online ballots.
• Online voting options for our Annual General Meetings (AGMs), Writers’ Guild Executive Council elections and any future elections.
• The Executive Committee to investigate and report before the next AGM 2026, the possibilities of online advance voting and/or proxy for AGMs, Writers’ Guild Exec elections and any future elections.