Walt Disney Pictures VFX Workers Unanimously Vote To Unionize With IATSE
In a unanimous National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election, in-house vfx workers at Walt Disney Pictures have joined their Marvel Studios counterparts in voting to unionize with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
The NLRB election was filed for on August 28, and votes were mailed in between September 8 and 29. The NLRB counted the votes on October 2, returning a unanimous 13-0 result in favor of unionizing. The Marvel Studios vote last month was also unanimous.
Workers at the two Disney-owned organizations are the first two groups of vfx workers to unionize with IATSE.
In total, 18 workers will make up the new bargaining unit which includes data wranglers, witness camera operators, and production staff. The group is demanding:
Fair compensation for all hours worked, adequate health care, retirement benefits, and, more generally, the same rights and protections afforded to their unionized coworkers who are already represented by IATSE.
Walt Disney Pictures is a production company, not a vfx studio. That means these are not the artists creating the visual effects seen in the final production. Disney contracts thousands of workers at dozens of studios worldwide to produce visual effects for its films. Those artists will not be a part of this unionization effort; however, union organizers hope that changes soon.
According to IATSE vfx organizer Mark Patch:
Today’s unanimous victory shows that vfx workers everywhere have a clear path to winning a meaningful say about their working conditions and quality of life. We’ll be continuing our work to win a great contract, but we need to bring every studio and vendor in line to bring those union standards to all vfx workers.
Now that the Walt Disney Pictures workers have voted to unionize, IATSE and the studio are obliged to engage in good-faith negotiations to establish a contract – referred to as a collective bargaining agreement – for the represented employees.
