WGA, SAG-AFTRA file grievances against NBCUniversal for allegedly obstructing protests

NY Daily News· Dia Dipasupil/New York Daily News/TNS

The Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild have filed grievances against NBCUniversal for allegedly infringing on their freedom to picket directly outside the Hollywood studio.

The unions claim that NBC both obstructed and endangered its members by blocking a public sidewalk where they intended to picket, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The move has “forc[ed] picketers to patrol in busy streets with significant car traffic where two picketers have already been struck by a car,” the WGA wrote in a complaint filed Tuesday.

The documents claim that NBC engaged in “illegal conduct” as it “interfered with, coerced and restrained employees in the exercise of their rights.”

The grievance comes 11 weeks into the ongoing WGA strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers related to contract negotiations, and just days after SAG-AFTRA announced a similar strike of its own.

NBCUniversal rejected the allegations.

“We are aware of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA complaints,” it said in a statement to the Reporter. “We strongly believe that the company has fulfilled our legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and we will cooperate with respect to any inquiries by the National Labor Relations Board on this issue,” they wrote.

“While we understand the timing of our multi-year construction project has created challenges for demonstrators, we continue to work with public agencies to increase access. We support the unions’ rights to demonstrate safely.”

The WGA continues to host hundreds of daily protesters at the location, which one official referred to as “jurisdiction hell.”

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