The Writers Strike, or, The Writers' Strike

The local affiliate for NBC television in Los Angeles, KNBC, put up a graphic regarding the conflict currently taking place between Hollywood writers and their nemeses, the major studios. The graphic read:

The Writers Strike

Upon hearing the phrase, I personally thought: The Writers' Strike, or, the strike of the writers. But how is it I thought ...strike of the writers, or writers' strike? Because there is a choice when one hears the phrase that does not exist when one sees it. Why the choice I made? That's a personal idiosyncrasy, I suppose.

KNBC's headline graphic was appropriate and quite clear using the simple, declarative sentence in the present indicative tense for its news bearing headline: The Writers Strike.

Other, possibilities exist:

The writers go on strike, uses the helping verb go, which is too often used, yet which lends a dramatic feeling.

The writers are striking, uses the Present Progressive tense, which would be in error because the writers hadn't been striking before the headline broke. Present Progressive states an action still going on in the present, (501 English Verbs, Thomas B. Beyer, Jr. Ph.D.) suggesting it had been going on in the recent past, which had not been the case.

In any case, Go Writers!