Writers Guild of America (WGA) members at PBS member stations WGBH, THIRTEEN and PBS SoCal voted to authorize a strike if management does not agree to a fair deal before their current contract expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on November 21, 2024.
The 94-member bargaining unit voted 100% in favor of the strike authorization with 83% participation by members. The Council of the Writers Guild of America East and the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West both unanimously approved the strike authorization vote.
Goals for the PBS writers contract include first-ever union protections for animation writers, fair compensation for writer-producers, WGA coverage of all made-for-new-media programs and reasonable residual payments for reuse on streaming services.
Lending weight to the strike action, writers working on 20 animated series aired on PBS / PBS KIDS — including the recently launched Carl the Collector, Alma’s Way, CyberChase, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Molly of Denali, Pinkalicious & Peterrific and Work It Out Wombats! — signed a pledge to not cross a picket line should a strike be called by the union.
If management fails to reach a deal with their unionized writers and a strike is called, all WGA members would be prohibited from performing struck work for PBS and PBS member stations. In addition, pickets would take place at THIRTEEN in New York, WGBH in Boston and at PBS SoCal in Los Angeles.
“Writers Guild members at PBS would much rather end the week with a fair and equitable contract than with a strike,” said WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, “but they are also willing to do what is necessary to reach an agreement that reflects their working conditions and meets their very reasonable demands.”
In October, Stanley Nelson Jr., Geoffrey C. Ward, John Oliver and more than 1,250 members of the Writers Guild of America signed a petition to support their fellow Guild members PBS.
The petition stated:
“PBS writers create award-winning, educational, and engaging content that is essential to PBS’s mission to inform the American public. Unfortunately, the vital role these writers play in maintaining the high standards of public television is not being reflected in management’s approach to ongoing negotiations.”
[Source: WGA East]
