Nickelodeon, WGA feud over pact extension

[Vin]

Discussions have stalled between the Writers Guild of America West and cable network Nickelodeon regarding the extension of the WGA's minimum basic agreement contract to cover writers on six Nickelodeon animation shows. And in light of the escalating feud, the WGA has called a special board meeting Monday to discuss further and more aggressive tactics -- including a potential walkout by the writers on the six shows in question -- if Nickelodeon continues to refuse WGA signatory status. After signing WGA authorization cards in the spring -- a significant step toward full-fledged WGA membership -- writers on the Nick shows "Invader Zim," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Constant Payne," "Hey Arnold," "Fairly Odd Parents" and "Jimmy Neutron" received WGA board approval for full legal representation by the guild. At the end of April, the WGA filed a petition to the National Labor Relations Board asking for a secret election among the animation writers to determine whether the WGA would be recognized by the NLRB as the writers' official representative. Nickelodeon, a Viacom subsidiary, then filed its own unfair labor practices complaint against the WGA, questioning the validity of the authorization cards. That filing put the brakes on the election, which the WGA said was the sole motivation behind the filing and its subsequent investigation. --
Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com)

* For more information, see the <a href="http://wga.org/">WGA.org</a> July 11 press release: <a href="http://wga.org/pr/0701/organizing-nickelodeon.html">"WGA, west Demands Fair Treatment and MBA Protections for Nickelodeon's Animation Writers"</a>; as well as their August 1st news article <a href="http://wga.org/pr/0801/membernews0801.html#1">"Animation Writers Seek Fairness at Nickelodeon"</a> by Kay Schaber.
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--Vince
Toonzone.net

* Additional reporting by Gookie.