Writers on the PBS shows “Frontline,” “NOVA“And”American experience” have voted to authorize a strike if a new contract is not reached by midnight Thursday.
The Writers Guild of America has been negotiating with three PBS stations since late September: WGBH in Boston, Thirteen in New York and PBS SoCal in Los Angeles. The union is seeking better terms, such as “reasonable” residuals for streaming, for 94 writers in the bargaining unit.
If no agreement is reached, the union could call a strike as early as Friday. A strike would halt writing on numerous PBS shows, including Ken Burns Specials: “American masters‘ and the PBS Kids series ‘Donkey Hodie’ and ‘Odd Squad’.
The union is seeking to expand its jurisdiction to include PBS animated series such as “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Molly of Denali” and “Pinkalicious & Peterrific.” Writers on those shows have vowed not to cross the picket line if a strike is announced.
“Writers Guild members at PBS would much rather end the week with a fair and equitable contract than a strike,” said Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, president of WGA East, in a statement. “But they are also willing to do whatever it takes to reach an agreement that reflects their working conditions and meets their very reasonable demands.”
Representatives of the three PBS member stations declined to comment Monday.
Also the WGA obtained a strike vote in April on behalf of 35 writers on “Sesame Street.” A five-year contract was concluded reaches three days later. That contract came with union coverage for writing on animated segments on the show, as well as enhanced streaming residuals.
Writers of these programs were not affected by last year’s five-month strike against major film and TV studios, as they are under different contracts.