Sixty-six production staffers across Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network have filed a petition for a union election under the auspices of the Animation Guild and requested voluntary recognition from management. The National Labor Relations Board will host an election, and the majority of votes will determine whether or not the union will form.
Production staffers are behind-the-scenes workers, not typically writers or artists, who nevertheless have very specialized skillsets applicable to creating and managing television production. The Hollywood Reporter states that the filing group includes workers with titles such as “production manager, digital production assistant, IT technician, production coordinator, production assistant, design production coordinator, assistant production manager and senior assistant production manager.”
These workers have developed or are in production with shows like “Batman: The Caped Crusader, Harley Quinn and Teen Titans Go! and Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, We Baby Bears and Craig of the Creek,” according to THR.
The effort was spurred on by the growing number of animation workplaces that have unionized production workers, an initiative that has been encouraged by The Animation Guild. Workers studios like Titmouse NY and LA and ShadowMachine have successfully organized. More will likely follow.
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