The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have negotiated temporary terms for a new film and television production contract. The Animation Workers’ Union announced the news on Friday, nearly eight months after contract negotiations began.
This news comes about 10 months after a three-year contract between the Animation Guild and AMPTP expired on July 29, 2021. The contract has been extended several times, amid demands from animation professionals for a deal that would offer better pay and treatment from studios for their work. The movement, known as #NewDeal4Animation, has seen Animation Guild members demand equal pay for their work compared to those working on live productions. In March, several union members marched outside the Disney Studios in Burbank, California, to demand a new deal.
Negotiations for a new contract between the union and AMPTP officially began in November 2021. Negotiations initially took five days, with an agreement failing within the allotted time. Negotiations resumed in February 2022 and continued until a tentative agreement was reached in May. In general, approximately a month of negotiation days occurred before the contract was reached.
According to the union, the new contract addresses several of the group’s top priorities, including pay increases for animated writers, retroactive pay increases, improving conditions for workers in new media, adding Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a guaranteed paid vacation and creating a collaborative committee To manage work to address work issues for specific studios. The Animation Guild leadership will vote to ratify the contract towards the end of June.
“I am extremely proud of the members of The Animation Guild who have donated their time and energy to the negotiating committee,” Steve Kaplan, business representative for the Animation Guild, said in a statement. The proposals we made to employers focused on improving the working lives of our members, and we’ve made significant progress toward these goals. A #NewDeal4Animation doesn’t stop today, we will continue to fight for the rights and benefits our members deserve, as well as ensure that all animation workers across the United States can use their collective voice to make a similar change.”
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