As the Animation Guild continues negotiations today with the AMPTP for a new film and TV contract, production workers at Titmouse Los Angeles have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to join guild, IATSE Local 839, to negotiate their first collective bargaining agreement.
The guild notes that it’s been in talks with execs at the animation house and that they are “working towards a path to voluntary recognition,” which would dispense with the need for an NLRB-supervised vote to determine whether or not the workers want to be represented by the guild.
Those represented in the bargaining unit of 69 workers include production managers, production supervisors, storyboard coordinator, script coordinator, writers’ assistants, office production coordinators and assistants.
“We are proud of the focused and passionate efforts of the organizing committee at Titmouse LA, as they work to harness the collective power of their peers to make working conditions sustainable for all production workers,” the guild said. “Moreover, this organizing effort would designate Titmouse as a fully union studio In Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver.”
Last week, production workers at the animation shows Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites filed a petition for a union election with the NLRB to be represented by the guild.
The guild, meanwhile, is also in talks today with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers for a new industry-wide film and TV contract. The guild’s current contract had originally been set to expire on July 29, 2021, but was extended to October 30, and extended again to allow IATSE to work out a film and TV deal with the AMPTP. The Animation Guild’s negotiations with the AMPTP began November 19 but were paused December 3 and resumed February 19.
Going into those talks, leaders of the 4,600-member guild told their members that major issues it intends to raise at the bargaining table include better terms for streaming shows, a significant pay increase for animation writers and an outsized raise for the guild’s lowest-paid crafts.
