E! president Suzanne Kolb on Wednesday sent a letter to eight striking “Fashion Police” writers, defending the show's host Joan Rivers and insisting on a sanctioned election before it would come to the negotiating table.
The writers have been on strike since April 17, after expressing a desire to organize and join the Writers Guild of America West. The writers want the network to recognize the WGA as their bargaining representative, while the network is insisting that a National Labor Relations Board election be held first.
"Why strike over an election if you believe the vote will be in favor of representation?" Kolb asks in the letter.
The writers maintain that demanding an election before negotiating is a stalling tactic, since they've made their desire to be in the guild clear. ...
Here at TAG, we're flexible about the National Labor Relations Board.
Sometimes we file a petition for a representation election with the National Labor Relations Board. (This is what E! wants and the WGAw -- apparently -- dislikes.)
Sometimes we do a card count. (That's a neutral third party counting representation cards to see if the union has enough to own a majority of the company's employees.)
And sometimes a company just comes to TAG and asks to sign a contract.
What appears to be happening in this case is that the company, knowing the WGAw doesn't want to get sucked into a NLRB hearing and vote, is trying to suck the WGAw into a NLRB hearing and vote. And the WGAw is resisting, having the writers strike and applying pressure that way.
The question is, who owns sufficient leverage to make their desires stick?
More on the $500 writers here.
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1 comments:
The WGA better work fast, or comments like "One for All and WGA for None" will spread further than they have already.
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