WGAW Members Stand Union Strong with TAG

As they prepared to enter negotiations with the AMPTP this week, IATSE 839, The Animation Guild (TAG), welcomed an army of supporters from unions across the region who assured them that the fire from the hot union summer of 2023 still burns strong. More than 2,000 people turned out for the Stand with Animation Rally at IATSE hosted by IATSE Local 80 in Burbank. The rally, TAG officials said, was the largest animation-focused union rally in the guild’s history.

Among the attendees were more than 50 WGAW writers who were ready to demonstrate the same solidarity that TAG displayed on the picket lines in 2023.

L-R WGAW members Y. Shireen Razack, Ray Utarnachitt, Elizabeth Choi Bubriski, and Anupam Nigam. Photo by Dexter Kim

“A lot of their issues are the same as ours were—fighting AI, fair wages, and better working conditions,” said Anupam Nigam, a WGAW member since 2004. “I was a gate captain at Disney [during the 2023 strike], and I saw a lot of animation writers out there supporting us in our actions against the studios, so I wanted to return that support, too.”

“They came out for us, so we have to come out for them,” agreed Y. Shireen Razack, a WGAW and SAG-AFTRA member. 

Although IATSE’s recently ratified Hollywood Basic Agreement does set healthcare and pension benefits for all the 13 Hollywood locals as well as The Animation Guild, TAG negotiates its Master Collective Bargaining Agreement (MCBA) separately. 

Several of the TAG members from different disciplines within animation who spoke during the rally expressed their alarm at the massive layoffs, outsourcing and advancement of AI which collectively threatens their livelihoods. Therefore, contract gains are essential if people working in animation are to continue to earn a sustainable living. 

“TAG writers mostly work freelance, working twice as hard for half the pay and barely any benefits. Most of us are scrambling to get a second, third, and fourth job,” said Julia Prescott, a member of both TAG and WGAW.

The rally was emceed by Mike Rianda, a member of TAG’s negotiating committee, who noted that after directing The Mitchells vs. the Machines, in which human beings were pitted against a robot menace, he finds himself waging a comparable fight in real life.

“Things are bad out there right now. That’s why we joined this fight,” Rianda said. “I’ve talked to people who have maxed out their credit cards I know someone whose sister told them maybe it’s time to give up their dream in life because there are no jobs. Yet we’re working in an industry that’s making billions of dollars in profit.”

The lineup of speakers also included political allies from Burbank, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. At the podium alongside Los Angeles City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, 44th Assembly District Rep Laura Friedman cited the need to protect the human and creative capital that makes Hollywood run. 

WGAW Board member Adam Conover. Photo by Dexter Kim

“We are not going to allow your talent to be outsourced and your jobs to be taken over by a soulless computer program,” said Friedman, a former film producer.

Introduced as a “friend to animation and union superhero,” WGAW Board member Adam Conover fired up the crowd with his call for TAG members to stay strong in the face of disrespect from the studios. If TAG workers believe that they don’t have or deserve this respect, then the companies win, Conover told the crowd.

“Your work makes these people hundreds of millions of dollars. They need you. Their respect doesn’t matter,” Conover told the crowd. “What matters is your respect for yourselves. If you respect yourself enough to say, ‘I will not work for you until I get what I deserve,’ then you will fucking win!”

WGAW and TAG member Tim McKeon. Photo by Dexter Kim

Several of the blue shirt-wearing WGAW members in attendance were also longtime TAG members who will be affected by the results of this contract. Myles Warden joined TAG in 2020 and became a WGAW member shortly before the 2023 strike, signing up to be a strike captain. 

“I’m optimistic that TAG members like myself can get the things we need,” Warden said. “It’s been a long journey, and we need more parity with what the WGA has. I think there’s a shot, especially if the turnouts keep looking like this.”

Added WGAW and TAG member Tim McKeon: “Treating people fairly and letting the next generation make a livable wage is the thing I care most about.”

Learn more at the TAG Negotiations website.