DreamWorks Animation Production And Remote Workers Reach Union Milestones

It’s been a big week for workers’ rights at DreamWorks Animation (DWA).

Production workers at the studio ratified their first-ever union contract with The Animation Guild (TAG), IATSE Local 839, and the Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700. Meanwhile, DWA’s cross-country remote animation workers who contribute to L.A.-based projects have unionized with TAG.

After nine months of negotiations, the production workers’ vote saw an overwhelming majority choose to ratify the contract, with a 92% participation rate and 96% of those voters in favor.

According to the Guild, the new contract includes:

• Established wage minimums for job classifications with yearly increases to those minimum rates, including one of the most competitive Production Assistant rates in the industry.
• Substantial reduction in healthcare coverage costs—annual individual health care premium will be zero dollars.
• Guaranteed retirement contributions.
• Additional 6th and 7th day pay for salaried and on-call employees

Remote employees’ declaration to unionize with TAG was made on September 22, and the union will today file with the NLRB to cover 75 artists and workers in both TV and feature animation. Roles covered under the agreement would include character effects artist, animator, technical director, lighter, visual development artist, modeler, production coordinator, and supervisor, and more.

Anthony Holden, an Oregon-based story artist who has worked at DreamWorks for seven years, said in a release:

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. Those of us who work remotely do not enjoy the same healthcare, retirement planning, or other benefits afforded to our coworkers in L.A. 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.

For the last several years, TAG has been making significant advancements for animation workers in L.A. and across the country, and the group shows no signs of slowing down. Recent announcements were made at Netflix Animation, NBCUniversal’s Ted, SpindleHorse, and Walt Disney Animation Studios, to name a few.