Powerhouse Animation Studio Workers Ratify First Union Contract In Historic Move For Right-To-Work States

The Animation Guild now officially, successfully represents animation workers in a right-to-work state.

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IATSE Local 839 announced Tuesday that 129 artists and production workers at Powerhouse Animation Studios in Austin, Texas — the studio behind Netflix’s Castlevania — had ratified their first contract via a 96% supermajority vote.

In their contract, Powerhouse workers secured provisions regarding wage equality, job security, retirement benefits, and more. The company also has a smaller studio in Los Angeles, which is also a TAG signatory.

“This is one of the strongest agreements we have been able to negotiate, and the crew’s resolve to their priority issues is the reason. I also want to acknowledge the work Powerhouse and its leadership team put in,” Steve Kaplan, TAG Business Representative, said in a statement. “We all had to be flexible to get to the finish line, and they showed their commitment to being a productive partner with the Union in the negotiations. I look forward to welcoming our newest Texas-based members to Guild membership, and working with the studio to build on this strong agreement in the future.”

Powerhouse now marks the second organizing unit outside of LA County, after Titmouse in New York. The studio voluntarily recognized its workers’ unionization last year in what the guild called a “historic voluntary agreement.”

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The guild says it is also launching organizing campaigns in Virginia and Puerto Rico, as animation grows in states and territories that offer film credits similar to those offered for live action.

The news comes as the Animation Guild is currently negotiating a new contract with the major Hollywood studios, returning to the table Monday for a second week of bargaining. In August, the union concluded its first scheduled week of talks by saying it was still “far apart” from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on key issues.

Some of the priorities for TAG in its talks with the AMPTP include protections against artificial intelligence as well as staffing minimums for animation writers, who have seen a steep decline in steady work over the past few years as writers rooms in that medium have slowly disappeared.

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