Teamsters encouraged to support WGA

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- An official for the Teamsters union in Hollywood is encouraging members not to cross picket lines should the Writers Guild of America go out on strike.

Negotiations were slated to resume Tuesday at the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers offices, however, if an agreement can't be reached, members of the WGA could walk out as early as Thursday, Variety.com said.

While a no-strike clause in their contracts prevents the Teamsters -- a union that represents more than 4,000 Hollywood drivers, location managers and scouts, casting directors and animal wranglers -- from striking, picketing or boycotting a producer, they can still disrupt production by refusing to cross picket lines as individuals, the trade paper said.

"As for me as an individual, I will not cross any picket line whether it is sanctioned or not because I firmly believe that Teamsters do not cross picket lines," Teamsters Local 399 secretary-treasurer Leo Reed said in a posting on the union's Web site.

"If the strike is sanctioned by (parent union) Joint Council 42, the producers have agreed that they will not discipline any employee who refuses to cross. Federal law protects you if you choose otherwise," Reed wrote.