Disney Agrees To Recognize Animation Guild As Bargaining Rep For ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Family Guy,’ And ‘American Dad’ Production Workers

The Walt Disney Company’s 20th Television Animation will voluntarily recognize that production and IT workers at The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad can be represented for collective bargaining by The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839.

According to the Guild, an arbitrator will conduct a formal card count to certify the results later this week.

The news was made public yesterday, as TAG also announced voting members from across the industry had overwhelmingly elected to ratify a new three-year contract for 2021-2024. That ratification came after an agreement between TAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) was announced in May.

Around the same time – on May 26 to be exact – production workers on The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad first filed to join The Animation Guild and begin collective bargaining for their first union contract.

Included in the new bargaining groups are the production managers, production supervisors, production coordinators, writers’ assistants, production assistants, associate producers, office assistants, and IT supervisors from the three shows. Artists on these shows were already covered by the guild’s contract.