US writers guild, SAG-AFTRA file NBCUniversal grievance – The Hollywood Reporter

(Reuters) – The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA have filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board against NBCUniversal, the Hollywood Reporter said on Tuesday.

The union claims the corporation is infringing its freedom to picket and endangering its members by obstructing the public sidewalk immediately abutting NBCUniversal’s studio in California during an ongoing construction project, the report said, citing a complaint the WGA filed with the federal agency.

The striking Hollywood actors joined film and television writers on picket lines for the first time in 63 years last week, cheering and chanting outside major studios with calls for higher streaming-era pay and curbs on use of artificial intelligence.

The WGA, NLRB and NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

The complaint by the WGA mentions 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,” the report said.

SAG-AFTRA in a similar filing said that members have been forced “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.”