When the writers of children’s cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants and Hey Arnold! tried to unionize with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) twenty years ago, Nickelodeon was quick to retaliate.

The studio’s biggest hit programs were nonunion, so these writers signed union authorization cards. An unfair labor practice (ULP) filing with the National Labor Relations Board alleged that the studio then illegally reduced the compensation of pro-union writers on The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. In response, the writers picketed the studio’s Burbank, California, headquarters.

The union drive didn’t succeed. Eventually, the writers of Nickelodeon shows joined the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 839, The Animation Guild (TAG), which represents the majority of animation writers. As for the writers involved in the turn-of-the-century union drive at Nickelodeon, they were punished.