![Stand with Animation Rally 2024 [ph: Tim Sullens, provided by The Animation Guild]](https://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/TAG-stand-with-animation-rally.jpg "TAG stand with animation rally")
Hundreds of workers represented by The Animation Guild (TAG) gathered today outside Glendale’s DreamWorks’ office to present a petition signed by more than 58,000 working TAG members and public supporters to DreamWorks executives.
Per the union, “The petition reminds these bosses that while animation workers kept content alive during the COVID lockdown, and animation is outperforming on screens big and small, animation workers are facing unprecedented levels of unemployment, losing their healthcare, homes and livelihoods.”
TAG has been in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) since August. To date, the Guild’s priority issues are still on the table. These include fair wages, job security and common-sense guardrails around generative AI use. Following the delivery of the petition to Netflix last month, this second “March on the Boss” at DreamWorks is part of a series of actions demonstrating TAG members’ commitment to obtaining a contract that adequately meets these demands.
Before the petition was delivered, Character Designer Michelle Drennan. “We’re here today because the AMPTP has not responded in a realistic way to our biggest asks. We need to show them that we are not going to back down without the things that we need to make sure our industry survives,” Drennan asserted. “We’re facing unprecedented and existential threats, and we are taking it seriously. There have been numerous news articles where they’re talking about replacing us, and cutting our workforce by huge numbers. We’re not just going to sit back and take it.”
Animator Ashley McGivern, a Guild member in attendance, stated, “I came out here because I’m personally sick and tired of there not being a sustainable model for us. In particular, [animators’ jobs] have been outsourced for the better part of 30 to 40 years, and we’re often underappreciated. Now this is starting to happen to storyboard artists and layout artists, and I don’t want to see this industry dissolve.”
More information on negotiations can be found at TAGnegotiations2024.com.
The Animation Guild, also known as Local 839 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), was founded in 1952. The labor union represents more than 5,000 artists, technicians, writers and production crews in the animation industry, advocating for workers to improve wages and conditions.
