Universal pruned trees near a picket line outside its studios, leaving striking writers without shade and prompting backlash on social media.
In an interview with The Post, Eric Haywood, a member of the WGA Board of Directors, who also picketed at the site on Monday, called the pruning a union-busting tactic. It came as areas of central and southern California have beenby extreme heat. Temperatures in the San Fernando Valley have hovered around the 90s, baking the concrete sidewalks around the Universal Studios Lot, where throngs of picketers have gathered each weekday to protest.
Erin Conley, a former Netflix writer and coordinator for a different picket line at the Universal Studios Lot, said the WGA shortened picketing hours at some locations this week in response to high temperatures. Keeping the picket lines going each day is important to show the union’s resolve, Conley said. The WGA, which is pushing for better pay for writers and protections against outsourcing work to artificial intelligence, is entering its 12th week on strike.
“As a lot coordinator, my first priority is keeping our picket safe,” Conley said. “And anything that takes away our shade is making that job even more difficult.”
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