Nickelodeon production workers vote to unionize at The Animation Guild

Nickelodeon Studios’ production staff voted to partner with The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839. According to the guild, 65% of the studio’s 177 production managers, production coordinators, post-production assistants, art production coordinators and asset coordinators signed tickets saying they wanted to work through the guild be represented.

However, the guild says Nickelodeon has refused to voluntarily recognize the rate unit.

“With voluntary recognition yet to be obtained, the production staff and The Animation Guild may be forced to submit a union election to the National Labor Review Board as early as next week,” the guild said.

Local 839 currently has a collective bargaining agreement with Nickelodeon that covers more than 400 artists, including CG technicians, storyboard artists, character designers and writers.

The guild’s bargaining committee says it believes “an agreement should cover all animation workers at Nickelodeon, including newly unionized production workers. But it appears the studio prefers to separate the production staff into a separate contract that does not have the same rights and does not provide protection.”

Steve Kaplan, the Guild’s business representative, said: “The company has shared its preference to keep the productive working relationship as a priority as it discusses the upcoming negotiations on the existing bargaining unit.” So it’s a surprise and an embarrassment that the company chooses to say the relationship is in jeopardy, forcing us to go to the NLRB and possibly take escalating steps to achieve our goal of entering the manufacturing workforce.

Production Coordinator Isabella Potenzini added, “I am deeply disappointed by Nickelodeon’s decision to deliberately make our efforts for equality and fairness even more difficult, but I have seen firsthand the strength and solidarity of our fellow producers.”

According to the guild, Nickelodeon’s production workers “came together to end unsustainable workplace practices like low wages and expensive health care.”

“The current salary gap for production roles makes it almost impossible to survive in Los Angeles,” says production coordinator Ryan Brodsky. “Many of us have accepted the shame of asking our parents for money so we can pay the rent and eat. We work full time for one of the biggest companies in the world and there is no reason why our parents should finance this billion dollar company.”

Minh-Chau Nguyen, CG equipment production coordinator, said: “As production workers, many of us had to close our wage gap by taking part-time jobs, working extra overtime, taking out loans or asking family and friends for financial support. This unsustainable model of working more for less must end now. With Nickelodeon’s voluntary recognition, I hope that the future generation of production workers can focus on building their careers rather than worrying about unaffordable wages, work-life imbalances and inadequate benefits.”