TAG President Emeritus Tom Sito had a few words to say about labor unions, and workers' participation therein on his blog:
...[N]ext Tuesday is the meeting for nomination of new officers for the union. They will serve a three year term. I hear a lot of top jobs may be up for grabs. Even if you usually can't be bothered going to these, THIS is always the most important General Membership meeting you can ever attend.
This is your chance to have a direct impact on how decisions are made by the local. The people you nominate will have the power over the financial health of LA animation, which has ramifications for the rest of the country. A bad or militant board can provoke major ruptures within the business which could bring on a strike or drive work out of town. A lazy or apathetic board can let the relevancy of the union movement fall away from the newer members and could cause management to ignore your rights under our contract.
Ignoring this meeting is like lending your wallet to a stranger.
A grizzled old union rep told me years ago: "People stopped going to guild meetings when television came in. Who wants to go out on week-night when they can sit in a lounger and watch the tube?"...
Sometimes that's been true, but sometimes not. I've known for a long time one of the most important jobs that I do as Business Representative is getting out into the work place and talking to people: trouble shooting problems in the workplace, clearing up confusion about the health and pension plan, and just plain old communicating.
If member don't attend meetings, then we work to bring meetings to them.
Even so, we've had a string of quality artists and technicians show up to participate, and over the past decade and a half, TAG has been blessed with some quality officers. Sito again:
Under my presidency (1992-2001) we organized big studios like Dreamworks, brought more CGI artists into the union than any other such organization in the world, built a multi-employer 401k plan and helped create complete medical coverage for same-sex couples.
Under current President Koch retraining and user groups for traditional artists to CGI accelerated, big studios like Starz Media/Film Roman now enjoy union benefits ... and a new 839 headquarters is being built. We are the fifth largest union in the Hollywood backstage...
Allow me to elaborate a little. Sito pushed hard for 401(k) benefits at Disney after our proposal was rejected in negotiations. Today TAG is the only IA union in the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan that has a 401(k) Plan on top of a Defined Benefit Plan and an Individual Account Plan. For individual members in the middle of their careers, that is a huge deal.
And Tom was the first IA officer to publically push for same-sex couples getting health coverage. Another huge deal.
And President Koch has toughed it out with employers at every contract negotiation, defended employees' rights inside the studios, pushed our organizing efforts. Because of his advociacy, we will next year move into a new building in Burbank, closer and more accessible to the studios.
None of these things happen without the participation of members being active and running for office. As El Sito says:
A corporation is not a democracy. A company is not a democracy. Our union is us, artists united. We are a democracy. For all our sakes and our families, please participate.
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8 comments:
Tom is a nice guy, and he certainly helped with good things as President, but come on: "under my presidency we organized Dreamworks"? He knows damn well that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of Dreamworks ever NOT being a union shop. Not even a question for once second. I wouldn't add that to his resume as if it was some great achievement.
He also benefited hugely from being president at a time when animation's profile was higher than it had ever been in the mainstream media--not thanks to him personally, but thanks first to the success of: Roger Rabbit, Aladdin, Mermaid, An American Tale, BATB, and Lion King. He rode that wave as much as added to its profile. This is not said as a slam, although I'm afraid it will be read that way.
But let's move forward to future presidencies and TAG boards and not constantly self aggrandize. The message about being involved is an important and a good one.
Organized Dreamworks ? Sure, sure, great ..
But what I want to hear about is organizing PBS .
Is the animation for PBS's "Car Talk" show going to be done at a union shop or will PBS do their usual thing and off-shore the animation production ?
Anyone going to organize PBS and/or whatever company is handling the animation chores for Car Talk ?
Car Talk is being done under a union contract through a payroll service.
...[L]et's move forward to future presidencies and TAG boards and not constantly self aggrandize. The message about being involved is an important
Agree with you. There's always animation studios to organize, always contracts to negotiate.
The world never stands still.
Arguments aside about organizing Dreamworks, let's give Sito props (and Hulett for helping) for getting us the 401K. It IS a big deal - lots of corporations have them, but not all unions. And we still have the pension plan too. People who volunteer for union leadership don't get lots of perks, but do get lots of potshots. Let's give them some thanks now and again. Thanks guys!
Arguments aside about organizing Dreamworks, let's give Sito props (and Hulett for helping) for getting us the 401K. It IS a big deal - lots of corporations have them, but not all unions. And we still have the pension plan too. People who volunteer for union leadership don't get lots of perks, but do get lots of potshots. Let's give them some thanks now and again. Thanks guys!
let's give Sito props (and Hulett for helping) for getting us the 401K
In retrospect, this is one of the major accomplishments of Sito's years as Prez. He circulated a petition at Disney, got almost everyone to sign it, and Michael Eisner agreed to go ahead with it.
The result is, today a lot of animation guild members have sizable 401(k) accounts on top of their Individual Account Plan and Defined Benefit Plan.
I know of individual participants who have combined IAPs and 401(k)s well north of $300,000.
"Car Talk is being done under a union contract through a payroll service."
They have an animation union in Vancouver and Saskatchewan ? (Who knew ?)
According to ColdHardFlash.com "Car Talk" was animated in Canada at Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver and at Hidden Door studios in Saskatchewan .
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