© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: SAG-AFTRA representatives attack Hollywood studios while joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in a sit-in as outside the Netflix offices in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
2/2
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Hollywood Actors Guild SAG-AFTRA filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal (NASDAQ:) on Tuesday, accusing the company of shutting down a picket area.
Unions said NBCUniversal violated their freedom to picket and endangered their members by obstructing a public sidewalk next to the company’s California studio yard with an ongoing construction project.
NBCUniversal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hollywood’s stunners joined film and TV writers in picket lines for the first time in 63 years last week as they demanded higher wages in the era of broadcasting and limits on the use of artificial intelligence.
The WGA complaint said NBCUniversal “forced the protesters to patrol busy streets with heavy vehicular traffic as two of the picketers were struck by a car.”
SAG-AFTRA said members were forced to “picket in an unsafe crowded location, exacerbating the dire public safety situation to interfere with striking members’ right to engage in the protected, coordinated activity of picketing and patrolling outside their employer’s premises during a lawful strike.”
Both unions asked the NLRB to order NBCUniversal to rectify the situation.