TNG-CWA Local: Writers Guild Management Unfair to Staff

The Newspaper Guild of New York, CWA Local 31003, has filed several unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board over the anti-union actions of Writers Guild of America East management.

President Bill O'Meara said the WGAE management reneged on a ratified contract with 19 staff members represented by the TNG-CWA local. 

WGAE management now wants to change the terms of a signed and ratified contract, terms that management negotiators agreed to, said O'Meara. He made clear that the Guild is fully supportive of striking Writers Guild members, and the dispute is solely with a management that contends it didn't mean to propose the wage increases that were included in the contract that was ratified by union members. 

O'Meara said the dispute arose after the Writers Guild rewrote the previously ratified contract and insisted that the TNG local sign the revised version. "It's like a car salesman demanding that you sign a contract after he's changed all the numbers that you had agreed upon," he said.

"It's unbelievable that that WGAE management doesn't seem to understand that it can't pick and choose the language it wants to live up to in a contract," O'Meara said. "The contract language clearly supports our position regarding money owed our members that management is now refusing to pay."

The NLRB charges cite WGAE Executive Director Mona Mangan for threatening to discipline the staff's union representative for insubordination when she took issue with Mangan over her handling of the dispute.

Another charge spotlights WGAE's threat to withdraw previously approved holiday bonuses unless the union dropped its grievance over the wage increase owed and signed the revised contract. WGAE eventually paid the bonuses, but later than originally
scheduled.

TNG-CWA members continue to fully support the striking writers in their dispute with television and movie producers, the local said. "Out of respect for our striking fellow union members we tried to work this out quietly, and we even offered to submit the dispute to arbitration," O'Meara said. "But the anti-union stance of WGAE leadership against its own workers, as well as the filing of a baseless charge against the local two weeks ago, forced us to reluctantly take this public step to defend our members."