Writers Guild of America has filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the AMPTP, accusing the majors of violating federal law with their demands last week that the guild drop six of its negotiating points as a condition of continued bargaining.
"It is a clear violation of federal law for the AMPTP to issue and ultimatum and break off negotiations if we fail to cave in to their illegal demands," WGA said in a statement.
The WGA's letter to NLRB cites several past cases to support its assertion that the "NLRB has long held that an employer may not require a union to resolve specific proposals as a precondition to discussing other subjects," WGA general counsel Tony Segall wrote to NLRB regional director James McDermott.
WGA's filing includes a copy of the letter Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers prexy Nick Counter handed WGA West exec director David Young last Friday, when the latest conflagration between the sides was sparked by AMPTP's insistence that guild drop its bid for jurisdiction over reality TV and animation writing, among other issues.
Filing sez AMPTP's move violated Section 7 of National Labor Relations Act as it "interfered with, restrained and coerced employees" who were trying to exercise their collective bargaining rights.
--Cynthia Littleton
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