HOLLYWOOD — Striking union actors have filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the George W. Bush campaign’s media consultants.
The complaint stems from an interim agreement signed in early May, a few days after the strike against advertisers began, between the actors unions and the Stevens & Schriefer Group under which members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists would have been allowed to perform in commercials despite the work stoppage.
The Bush campaign subsequently shot a non-union ad in early July in Brooklyn, N.Y., provoking the ire of SAG and AFTRA for going back on the agreement. The unions ran anti-Bush ads during the Republican convention last week as a result.
Bargaining issues
The complaint accuses the Alexandria, Va.-based Stevens & Schriefer firm of failing to bargain in good faith and failing to provide the unions with information in a timely manner.
“We’re being stonewalled in our requests to receive information about the relationship between Stevens & Schriefer Group and the Bush campaign, and this has necessitated the filing of unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB,” said SAG president William Daniels in a statement.
