NLRB TO HEAR SOAP WRITERS' CASE

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/nlrb%20to%20hear%20soap%20writers%20case_1087659

The National Labor Relations Board has agreed to hold a hearing on whether the Writers Guild of America acted illegally when it denounced 28 writers who filed for financial core status during the 2007-08 strike. Most of the writers worked on television soap operas at the time and expressed fear that without scripts the soaps would be canceled permanently, leaving them jobless. In reaction the WGA leaders issued a statement, listing the names of the 28 writers and urging that they "must be held at arm's length by the rest of and judged accountable for what they are -- strikebreakers whose actions placed everything for which we fought so hard at risk." On Monday NLRB General Counsel Richard Meisberg upheld a complaint filed by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers alleging that the statement by the WGA leaders amounted to a "prohibited retaliation" against the writers. The guild issued a statement saying that it "will defend itself fully at the NLRB hearing."

25/11/2008