Production workers DreamWorks Animation have officially ratified their first union contract since unionizing with the Animation Guild and the Motion Picture Editors Guild last year.
The Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) announced Wednesday that the collective bargaining agreement, which was the result of nine months of negotiation, was approved by 96% of those who voted. The guild says it had a 92% participation rate.
The contract covers 160 production workers across both the Animation Guild and the Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) and establishes a minimum wage, reduces healthcare coverage costs and guarantees retirement contributions, per the guilds.
Additionally, the Animation Guild says that it is attempting to organize DreamWorks remote employees living throughout the U.S. who work on L.A.–based animation projects. The union has already asked the studio for voluntary recognition, and it will file for an election with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday.
The bargaining unit would include 75 artists and animation workers across film and television including character effects artists, animators, technical directors, lighters, visual development artists, modelers, production coordinators, supervisors and more.
“While it is a tremendous privilege to be able to work remotely in the industry I love and alongside people I love, it is unfair to be treated as a second-class employee,” Anthony Holden, an Oregon- based Story creator, who has worked at DreamWorks for seven years said in a statement. “Those of us who work remotely do not enjoy the same health care, retirement planning, or other benefits afforded to our co-workers in LA County who are covered under collective bargaining agreements. For the sake of my own family, and for the sake of any employee—current or future—who might choose to move their family to the place that is right for them, I have chosen to stand with the remote employees of DreamWorks to ask for what is rightfully ours— to be given the same treatment and benefits as our counterparts who work in-studio.”
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