Unionized DreamWorks Production Workers Ratify First Contract

DreamWorks animators have announced their first union contract, which focuses on minimum wage, retirement contributions, and healthcare costs. 

DreamWorks animation workers unionized with the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Animation Guild last year. The contract, which took nearly a year to negotiate, received a 96% approval rating from voters. 92% of the Animation Guild participated. The contract pertains to 160 animation workers from both the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Animation Guild.

The Animation Guild’s next move is to organize remote U.S.-based workers involved with LA-based DreamWorks projects. The development would include 75 workers.

“While it is a tremendous privilege to be able to work remotely in the industry I love and alongside people I love, it is unfair to be treated as a second-class employee,” remote worker Anthony Holden said. “Those of us who work remotely do not enjoy the same health care, retirement planning, or other benefits afforded to our co-workers in LA County who are covered under collective bargaining agreements. For the sake of my own family, and for the sake of any employee—current or future—who might choose to move their family to the place that is right for them, I have chosen to stand with the remote employees of DreamWorks to ask for what is rightfully ours— to be given the same treatment and benefits as our counterparts who work in-studio.”