Former Disney Artist Explains How Ed Catmull Tricked Him

Here is the conversation that Hulett had with the former Disney employee:

Unidentified Former Disney Employee: When Disney Animation had personal service contracts, back six or seven years ago, management had us come into meetings. And Ed Catmull explained how they were doing away with PSCs because they thought it would be better for all us Disney employees not to be tied down.

Animation Guild business rep Steve Hulett: I remember. People at Feature Animation asked me about it. I said it was just a way for the studio to save money. Employees wouldn’t be locked into automatic raises in personal service contracts every year, wouldn’t be focused on raises because they’d be “at will” and more concerned about keeping their jobs.

Unidentified Former Disney Employee: Here was something else. Ed told us without the PSCs, everybody was free to go work someplace else if they got a better gig. The company wouldn’t stop people from moving on. But the companies out there were talking to each other and keeping wages down, so how could anybody go get a higher-paying job? And Ed knew about this when he was talking to employees. When he was pushing the “free to get a better deal” thing.

Animation Guild business rep Steve Hulett: Imagine that…