The recent vote by DPS Film Roman employees to join The Animation Guild made its annual holiday party merrier for all as animators toasted in their many new brethren on Dec. 10, 2004, at the Pickwick Garden Center in Burbank, California.
IMotion Picture Screen Cartoonists, Local 839 IATSE will now be known as The Animation Guild. The union, which represents animators, designers, technical crafts and story people in the animation field, has been known by its former name (or the acronym MPSC) for over fifty years. But effective with its approval by the IATSE general executive board on July 23 and the Local 839 membership on July 30, 2002, the union will now official be known as The Animation Guild and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE.
The MPSC Local 839 IATSE, the labor union for screen cartoonists and CGI artists and technicians in southern California, has created an all new Website hosted by Animation World Network...
The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, Local 839 IATSE, has won their organizing election at Bohbot Kids Network (BKN), a German-owned animation studio with offices in Los Angeles. The ballot tally was 38 in favor of union representation versus 3 against, with six challenged ballots. The original vote took place in June 1999, but was delayed by BKN attorneys' legal challenges over the election procedures. However, in late January 2001, the National Labor Relations Board overruled BKN's suit. The union hopes to negotiate a contract with BKN in the near future.
On February 13, 2001, the European Union organized in Stockholm for an expert seminar on Children and Young People in the New Media Landscape. One of the main topics in the discussions was Sweden's European initiative for banning television commercials aimed at children. The European Union has a rotating presidency system, where every member country controls the administration for a half-year term. As current leader, Sweden has placed the matter of TV ads on the top of the EU agenda for this term.
Despite a negative recommendation by the negotiating committee, the members of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement...
Despite a negative recommendation by the negotiating committee, the members of Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement. The contract includes higher increases in minimum rates (8% in the first year, 4% in the second year, 3% in the third), higher health and pension contributions for freelance animation writers and storyboard artists, and a new framework for screen credit arbitration.
The negotiating committee for Los Angeles Motion Picture Screen Cartoonist Union Local 839 has recommended that its 2,000 members vote down the new three-year pact with the studios. On a vote of 12-1, Local 839 cited problems with the negotiating process, unequal salary increases, artist testing, credit placement, late payments to freelancers and the definition of writers.
The Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, Local 839 IATSE, has rolled out a special agreement for dotcom studios producing animation for the Net. The Union has drafted a newer, simpler contract without the traditional animation classifications and rates. The Web contract is designed to offer Internet start-ups maximum flexibility while still providing animation employees with their regular pension and health coverage. The new contract will provide health and pension benefits under the same multi-employer plan as that of other union shops.
With all the hubbub recently in Los Angeles about artists being out of work, runaway productions and the well attended PBS affiliate station picket, Heather Kenyon sat down with Tom Sito to talk.
"The turn-out was terrific. It's better than we ever imagined. It shows the depth of emotion in Hollywood toward this issue," said Tom Sito, president of the Screen Cartoonists' Union Local 893. With bright, artistic signs in hand, a crowd of nearly 250 people consisting of both working and non-working animation professionals showed up to picket in front of Los Angeles PBS affiliate KCET. The picket even drew members from SAG and the American Film union. The event was a show of support against the recent move by PBS that sent their network's animation work to Canada.
In response to PBS directing its animated work to Canada, MPSC Local 839 Cartoonists Union is set to picket Los Angeles' PBS affiliate KCET. PBS, the United States' public broadcasting network, is funded by U.S. tax dollars and recently struck a US$40 million deal with Canada's Nelvana [AF 1/5/00]. Upset with the ever increasing practice of studios sending work outside the States, the Union will picket in front of the KCET building on Thursday, April 13, 2000 between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. Local 839 members earn credit toward dues for picketing or sign-drawing.
A strike by union employees at Disneyland Paris may stop the park's rocking
New Year's Eve celebration. Disney played down the chance of a strike,
however local union leader Elena Stanciu warned, "The party'll be ruined,"
citing staff frustration over slow-moving pay talks and dissatisfaction
with a $115 New Year's Eve bonus as the main reasons for the latest threat
of a walk out. Stanciu said seasonal staff were being offered almost four
Mark Kausler describes his impression of Animation Nation's first meeting and discusses why from a historical standpoint this movement is necessary and critical now.
At its membership meeting on September 29, the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE re-elected the following officers, who were nominated without opposition: President: Tom Sito, Vice-President: George Sukara, Business Representative: Steve Hulett, Recording Secretary: Jeff Massie, Sergeant-At-Arms: Jan Browning.
Los Angeles-based Industrial Light & Magic Commercial Productions (a division of ILM parent, Lucas Digital) used animated visual effects in a commercial for First Union. Live actors were composited with a 3D CG environment featuring a floating piggy bank, animated money and other exaggerated elements of the finance world. The production team included director Steve Beck, visual effects supervisor George Murphy and CG lead Tim Stevenson.
What can the Union do for you? President Tom Sito explains.
What can the Union do for you? President Tom Sito explains.
