2 days Ago By Katie Kilkenny
Production workers at officially have a first union contract. In a ratification vote that took ended on Wednesday, 93 percent of participating bargaining unit members voted to support a deal reached on Feb. 13, while 7 percent voted against.
Ninety-six percent of union members turned out to vote on the agreement, which is a sideletter to ‘s preexisting contract with Walt Disney Animation Studios. The agreement offers the unit’s production coordinators, production supervisors and production managers pension and health benefits and amplified minimum wage rates. The union claims that minimum rates have gone up 24 percent for production managers, 29 percent for production supervisors and 35 percent for production coordinators as a result of the negotiation.
“It’s been an uphill journey, but at long last, we’ve reached the mountaintop. We are standing in our breakthrough — stronger, bolder, and united,” production coordinator Tamara Lee said in a statement. Union organizer Allison Smartt called the contract “historic” and said it will have “positive impacts long into the future and throughout the animation industry” in a statement.
In its press release, the union suggested that the provisions in the Disney agreement could have an impact on its ongoing with DreamWorks Animation for production workers. has reached out to Walt Disney Animation Studios for comment. Production workers at the studio began organizing in 2022, an effort that culminated in a at the National Relations Board the following year.
Roughly 93 percent of participating union members voted to join The Animation Guild, marking a decisive win for the union. Negotiations over a first contract began on April 11, 2024. While The Animation Guild has production workers across the industry in the past few years, it has framed the Disney bargaining unit as its first union of feature film production workers.
The Disney union drive was followed by one at that went public in early 2024. “In Hollywood, we love an underdog story. Our ratification was just that — the underrepresented and underpaid coming together and demanding better pay and equity with our artistic counterparts,” said production supervisor Nicholas Ellingsworth in a statement.
“In the end, we were heard and seen, and we have a pathway to further improving the conditions in which production management works.” THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The Hollywood Reporter.
