Since the 12th of August, The Animation Guild (TAG) has run numerous strikes against the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Programming (AMPTP). Last Tuesday, Nov. 19th, they began negotiations for a new three-year contract. Over a week later, TAG and the AMPTP finally agreed to better worker protection.
What TAG Demanded For The New Contract
In previous reports, The Animation Guild, alongside their sister unions, SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild of America wanted protection against generative AI. On May 27th, Animation Workers Ignited sent an outcry on social media about the dangers of the now-expired Master’s Agreement. Once it expires, production companies would be free to replace creative industry workers including animators with artificial intelligence.
For the past three months, TAG and its parent union, IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) have added more necessary benefits to their new contract.
Creative Industry Worker Benefits
- Notify and consult for AI protection to prevent plagiarism and generated work.
- Added protection and benefits to remote workers
- Allow needed grief leave and additional sick days.
- Juneteenth (June 19th) will be considered a holiday.
- Increase in health and pension funds. Healthcare benefits will not receive cuts or added costs to affect employer’s pay.
- A 3-year wage increase: 7% in the first year, 4% in the second year, and 3.6% in the third year.
- Crafting for profit including optimizing staffing minimums for writers and offering recognition to storyboard artists.
These benefits offer an improved and secure position to industry artists and writers. Seeing these same benefits for remote workers is very refreshing and respectable. Most of the animation industry has been affected by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Workers had to adapt their homes into an office while learning to online chatrooms and voice calls. Those who have become new parents or current ones have grown closer to their families. They wanted to be given the same benefits as their in-office workers with flexible hours to spend time with them.
How the AMPTP Responded
Throughout the union strikes, the AMPTP has repeatedly denied The Animation Guild’s requests. During that time, they failed to identify the guardrails needed against AI, the lack of worker benefits and job security, and unequal pay between genders. Since October, TAG and the IATSE unions entered the “March on The Boss” rally.
Streaming networks including Netflix began dropping animation shows. It didn’t matter if the show was succeeding or failing. These networks wanted to compete with live-action and reality TV shows in their catalog against one another. This caused an uproar in the animation community which fueled TAG’s determination to fight the AMPTP.
From there, the union marched to Netflix, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., and Cartoon Network. They informed the public about Hollywood’s agenda to replace creatives with AI and asked for signatures for their petition. In case the AMPTP negotiations avoid or refuse to establish an agreeable worker contract, 100,000 supportive signatures will override it.
An Agreement Has Been Met
This morning, Nov 26th, Deadline announced that The Animation Guild managed to reach an agreement with the AMPTP. After reviewing and listening to what’s needed for animators and creative industry workers, this new 3-year contract will now be going under a ratified vote. If the majority of the AMTP goes to establishing TAG’s demands, it will replace the current worker’s contract. If not, then TAG will have to undergo negotiations during December. They will continue the strikes and gather 100,000 signatures for their petitions.
Union business representative Steve Kaplan is happy that there is finally progress in the workers’ efforts.
“After weeks of negotiations […], I am proud of the agreement we have reached with the studios in our new contract. Not only have we seen the inclusion of advancements in the industry […], but we were able to address those specific issues in a meaningful way.”
The battle for animators is a long way from being done. For now, this one victory is a small celebration for the passionate worker union.
