‘Fashion Police’ Producers To Be Picketed By WGA West
The Writers Guild of America West will picket the Los Angeles offices of E! Entertainment in support of striking “Fashion Police” writers.
The action has been set to start at 11:30 a.m. Thursday outside the offices at 5750 Wilshire Boulevard.
The stoppage started April 17 after writers filed complaints with the state of California alleging that E! and show host Joan Rivers’ Rugby Prods., which jointly employ the scribes, had not paid $1.5 million in wages and overtime. The WGA, which assisted in the filing of the claims, is sanctioning the strike and has told the 12,000 members not to work on the show until the matter is settled.
In response, E! issued a statement brushing off the rally: “Thursday’s stunt does not move us any closer to a resolution. We again ask the ‘Fashion Police’ writers to reconsider striking over something as democratic as an election, which is a fair and important part of the process prior to collective bargaining.”
E! president Suzanne Kolb had responded last week by blaming the WGA for the strike and asserting that the network wants to have an election administered by the National Labor Relations Board before it negotiates. The writers have said that the network’s demand for an election was “a well-known stalling tactic.”
Kolb also insisted that Rivers supports the writers.
The rally is one of first to be held by the WGA in the years since the 100-day strike in 2007-08, which saw hundreds of pickets and rallies.
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