Nickelodeon Animation Studios has agreed to voluntarily recognize The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, as the bargaining representative for its production workers. Last month, a majority of the 177 production workers there voted to unionize and to seek voluntary recognition.
The guild and the studio now will meet at the bargaining table to negotiate a contract. Those covered by a new deal will include production managers, production coordinators, post-production assistants and asset production coordinators. The guild already has a collective bargaining agreement with Nickelodeon that covers more than 400 artists, including CG technicians, storyboard artists, character designers and writers.
No dates have been set yet for negotiations, and the guild’s Negotiations Committee now will expand to include representatives from the production bargaining unit.
“I am glad that we were able to reach an agreement where Nickelodeon Animation Studios recognized both the determination of the animation production workers and our long-standing productive labor relations relationship,” said Steve Kaplan, Local 839’s business rep. “I look forward to bargaining a successor agreement.”
In a statement, Brian Keane, Nickelodeon Animation Studios’ EVP Production and Operations, said that the studio “supports its talented and dedicated production workers who play an instrumental role in the making of our content. The studio’s collaborative relationship with The Animation Guild spans many years, and we look forward to bargaining an agreement with the union covering this new group of employees.”
The Organizing Committee that led the drive to unionize production workers at the studio said that it is “overwhelmingly thrilled that Nickelodeon Animation Studios has decided to voluntarily recognize their production workers as members of The Animation Guild. By doing this, the studio has shown that they are willing and ready to recognize the hard work, time, and love we pour into our productions. We are so excited to work with them and our artist colleagues to come to an agreement that reiterates their support for what we do.”