Nickelodeon Animation Studios has agreed to voluntarily recognize The Animation Guild as the bargaining representative for production workers at the studio. Production workers at Nickelodeon overwhelmingly decided to unionize in early December 2022 and requested voluntary recognition.
To date, this is the largest bargaining unit of production workers to organize under The Animation Guild, says the union. The proposed unit would cover 177 employees in specified classifications including production managers, production coordinators, post-production assistants, asset production coordinators and more.
The Organizing Committee which led the drive to unionize production workers at the studio states:
“The organizing committee 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.”
The Animation Guild has an existing collective bargaining agreement with Nickelodeon Animation Studios that covers more than 400 artists, including CG technicians, storyboard artists, character designers and writers. No negotiation dates have been set yet. However, the Negotiations Committee 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,” says Steve Kaplan, Business Representative of The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839. “I look forward to bargaining a successor agreement.”
Brian Keane, EVP Production & Operations for Nickelodeon Animation Studios, comments, “Nickelodeon Animation Studios 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.”
Founded in 1952, The Animation Guild today represents more than 5,000 artists, technicians and writers in the animation industry, advocating for workers to improve wages and conditions.
