The WGA has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday accusing the AMPTP of unfair labor practices for issuing an ultimatum during the last round of negotiations.

During the last round of talks the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take several things off the table (including their want to lay claim to “animation and “reality shows” – which, personally, I think they have no right to control, but that’s another article). If the WGA did not take these things off the table, the AMPTP refused to continue negotiations.

WGA contends that his move amounts to violation of labor practices

The WGA feels there is a precedence for this:

“The NLRB has long held that an employer may not require a union to resolve specific proposals as a pre-condition to discussing other subjects,” the filing states. “Such conduct frustrates the bargaining obligation and, as here, effectively stalls negotiations.”

And, of course, the AMPTP responded (in a really smug and off-putting way – of course)

“The WGA’s filing of a complaint with the NLRB reminds us of the old lawyer’s adage,” the AMPTP said in a statement. “‘When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the law is on your side, argue the law. And when you don’t have either the law or the facts on your side, you pound the table.’ The WGA has now been reduced to pounding the table, and this baseless, desperate NLRB complaint is just the latest indication that the WGA’s negotiating strategy has achieved nothing for working writers.”

Also, the DGA is ready to start negotiations with the AMPTP at the first of the year – a move that will clearly have ramifications on the writer’s strike, but the WGA’s representatives are holding firm that they will not reach a deal until they have on that is fair for the writer’s regardless of what deal the DGA makes.