Labor Grievance Filed Against NBCUniversal By Striking Unions
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Last Tuesday, July 18, SAG-AFTRA and the Writer’s Guild filed a labor grievance against NBCUniversal with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the corporation of infringing on their right to picket and endangering their members. There is an ongoing construction project next to the California studio lot on Lankershim Boulevard that is spilling over onto the adjoining sidewalk where SAG-AFTRA and WGA members are picketing. Tensions between the studio and the unions over the issue have been going on since early June, and it affects not only the strikers but pedestrians as well. The LAPD’s Labor Relations Unit and other elected officials have been called about this area, which one official has called a “jurisdiction hell”. This filing also comes a day after the media pointed out that NBCUniversal was pruning shade trees by the picketers during an intense heat wave at their Barham Boulevard picket site.
In the official complaint filed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions with the NLRB, the unions claim that this has forced “picketers to patrol in busy streets with significant car traffic where two picketers have already been struck by a car and by refusing to provide K-rail barriers to establish pedestrian walkways for picketers to use after Los Angeles Police Department advised the employer weeks ago in the interest of public safety to do so.” The WGA states that since the studio has refused to comply with these safety measures, it shows that it has “interfered with, coerced, and restrained employees in the exercise of their rights”, adding up to “illegal conduct”.
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An NBCUniversal spokesperson responded by saying that this was a multi-year construction project and that it was working with local authorities to increase access for the demonstrators. "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,” stated the company spokesperson. This goes against the unions’ further claims that the studio was forcing them "to picket at the unsafe crowded location, exacerbating the dire public safety situation to interfere with striking members' right to engage in the protected, concerted activity of picketing and patrolling outside the employer's premises during a lawful strike." Both unions involved are counting on the NLRB to help them in this situation.
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Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters
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