The NFL Players Association has weighed in on the threatened writers strike, urging management’s AMPTP to “negotiate in good faith towards a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement that reflects the hard work of thousands of writers.”

“There is no question that the AMPTP employers can afford to make a reasonable deal,” the leaders of the players union said in a letter sent today to AMPTP president Carol Lombardini and obtained by Deadline (read it below). “The top six companies brought in $51 billion in profits in 2016.”

Signed by NFLPA president Eric Winston, executive director DeMaurice Smith and VP Business and Legal Affairs Sean Sansiveri – who also is a member of the WGA – the letter says “the guild-sponsored health benefit plan needs a significant infusion of money to keep pace with the outsized increases in health care costs faced by all Americans,” and claims that “the average television writer’s pay decreased by about 23% in the last two years.”

Those are all key talking points the WGA made in the run-up to negotiations, except that the 23% decline in wages was slightly miscast: That’s not how much the average TV writer’s pay has declined, but rather how much the average TV writer-producer’s pay has declined, according to a two-year survey conducted by the guild. WGA reports show that the average wages of TV writers actually have been on the rise during the past 10 years.

The letters — and the misstatement of the WGA’s data — now are posted on the WGA West website.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka sent a similar statement – including the same mistake – in support of the WGA. “The top six companies,” he said, “made $51 billion in profits in 2016. Yet, the average television writer’s pay decreased by 23% over the last two years.”

The WGA East is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, but the WGA West is not.

Negotiations for a new WGA film and TV contract continue today. The current contract expires at 12:01 AM May 2.

Here is the letter in its entirety: