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Writers Guild files ITV charges

The Writers Guild of America East has filed unfair labour practice charges against ITV as the dispute between the union and the UK commercial broadcaster rumbles on.

The US organisation has filed the charges at the federal government’s National Labor Relations Board, alleging that ITV has failed to bargain in good faith and has violated federal labour law.

The WGAE claims that ITV has cut guild-represented employees’ compensation by US$300 a month and has “implemented a health insurance plan with deductibles so high that employees would never get paid any actual benefits except if they were hospitalised for long periods.”

The organisation also alleges that employees would have to pay US$130 per month in premiums for the coverage.

“This health plan is much worse, and costs employees much more, than what ITV had previously said it was willing to offer,” WGAE said in a statement.

ITV did not comment on the latest accusations.

Earlier this month, the guild urged its members not to work on NBC’s forthcoming remake of UK format Saturday Night Takeaway amid ongoing discussions with ITV over health benefits, paid time off and minimum levels of compensation.

How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris, host of the NBC reboot, also took to Twitter to reassure writers the show would employ union members, while WGAE exec director Lowell Peterson told C21 that the series would not go ahead without its members.

Meanwhile, UK politician Helen Goodman wrote to ITV CEO Adam Crozier expressing her concerns about ITV’s reluctance to reach an agreement with the WGAE over NBC’s version of the popular Ant and Dec-fronted show.

“We have negotiated contracts with other employers doing the same work which provide better benefits to their writer-producers, and those employers pay far more of the cost of coverage,” said Lowell Peterson, executive director of the WGAE.

“Those benefits are locked in by enforceable collective bargaining agreements that also guarantee minimum compensation levels, paid time off, holidays, and other basic rights like union security and a grievance and arbitration provision.

“It is incomprehensible that ITV thinks it can cut pay, violate federal labour law, and stiff-arm the Writers Guild while still proposing to expand its presence in the US television market.”

The WGAE added that it has reached agreements with non-fiction companies Sharp Entertainment, Optomen and Lion Television in the past.

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