NBCUniversal’s just been hit with a labor grievance, courtesy of SAG and the WGA

With the writers strike now entering its eleventh week, and the actors strike now heating up, the massive protests against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have remained strong. But a recent labor grievance filed against NBCUniversal alleges that the studio attempted to infringe on its employees’ right to protest.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Writers Guild filed a grievance — with SAG also filing a mirror action — with the National Labor Board against NBCUniversal over claims that the studio “interfered with, coerced, and restrained employees in the exercise of their rights.” The allegations concern a construction project around NBCUniversal — the WGA contends that the studio (allegedly) willfully and maliciously engaged in this project in order to force the protestors into unsafe conditions away from the sidewalk.

In fact, the grievance alleges that NBCUniversal engaged in conduct that “forc[ed] 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.” 

NBCUniversal did not respond to comment before news about the grievance broke. Any allegation of this nature should be taken seriously — if the studio is, in fact, found to be in violation of the rights of their laborers, then that represents a serious infringement of the First Amendment. The right to protest and congregate is engrained into the American Constitution, and studio retaliation of this nature should not be allowed to slide.

But this is only an allegation currently, and the investigation into it will probably end up taking a while. One thing’s for certain, though: while the studios continue to stubbornly drag their heels and refuse to negotiate seriously with the strikers, they’re losing out on millions in revenue. And they’re damaging many, many professional relationships by behaving in some low-handed behavior.

The anonymous executive who called letting writers lose their housing a “cruel, but necessary evil”springs to mind. Why continue to let this drag on? In an industry as image-conscious as Hollywood, you’d think the AMPTP would understand the need for good PR. It’s almost baffling that this is all basically textbook movie-villain behavior — and studio executives just can’t see it. Although, maybe that does explain things.