How Animation Production Workers Are Fighting For Unionisation
The medium of animation has been making massive strides in recent months when it comes to unionisation. Individuals from myriad studios and various disciplines have been fighting for contracts that promise better working conditions, essential healthcare, and a working lifestyle that doesn’t take advantage of them. Artists, writers, and other professionals in the industry are taking positive steps forward, but in the wake of it all production workers are sometimes left behind.
Many of the creators I’ve spoken to across the industry are tired and in need of change, with several generations of professionals banding together and coming to realise that change is possible, and there’s nothing stopping them from standing up to the status quo and seeking to make a difference. With any luck, we’re headed in the right direction.
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Last month saw production workers across The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad recognised by The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 as they begin bargaining for their first union contract. With the teams boasting 750 years of experience between them, production staff are hoping to join the show’s animators with a union contract that treats them fairly.
To delve a little deeper I caught up with production manager Ashley Cooper and assistant production manager Margaret Glaser to talk about their history working on The Simpsons and what unionisation will mean for them.
Cooper was present when artists on The Simpsons first unionised back in 2006, but production staff were told to stay in their lane and not expect similar treatment. With a new generation of talent trickling into the industry in recent years, a new fire has been lit under the
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