ShadowMachine Production Workers Vote To Unionize With Animation Guild

deadline.com:

Production workers at ShadowMachine, the Los Angeles-based animation house behind BoJack Horseman, Final Space and Human Discoveries, have voted to unionize with the Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839.

The 6,000-member guild already represents the animators who work there.Subject to an independent verification of the authorization cards, the guild said that ShadowMachine “will voluntarily recognize” it as the exclusive bargaining representative of a group of 37 production workers that includes production managers, post-production supervisors, writers’ assistants, production assistants and coordinators.According to Local 839 organizer Ben Speight, this is the fifth successful organizing campaign for the guild in the past five months, following the artists and production workers who voted to unionize at Titmouse in New York, production workers at Titmouse in Los Angeles and production workers on the series Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites.Guild-provided quotes from ShadowMachine production workers who were part of the organizing drive describe the need for union representation in the animation industry.

Here is a sampling:“There have been times where I felt that I’d have to leave this industry because of the way production workers in particular are undervalued,” said retakes coordinator Katrina Agretelis. “It’s time to make a change and join forces with the artists at TAG to work towards a more sustainable animation industry.”Said design coordinator Melissa Lam: “Production and artists must stand on equal ground to successfully make a show and to create an inviting studio culture that encourages all the people involved to want to return and do it again.