Yahoo News ‘Castlevania’ Studio Unionizes, Marking Expansion for The Animation Guild
The Animation Guild has succeeded in its bid to establish a union in Texas.
Austin-headquartered Powerhouse Animation Studios (Castlevania, Sonic Frontiers: Divergence) has voluntarily recognized a bargaining unit of 129 artists and production workers that sought to join the IATSE Local, the union announced Thursday. TAG first started unionizing animation studios outside of L.A. County in 2022 with its push at Harriet the Spy studio Titmouse New York, but its new union at Powerhouse Animation marks its first in a so-called right-to-work state.
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The union and Powerhouse Animation management will now work on agreeing to their first contract covering a wide swath of workers, from background designers to production assistants to animators.
“Representing the Powerhouse artistic and production staff further solidifies The Animation Guild as the union setting the standard for workplace conditions in the animation industry,” TAG business representative Steve Kaplan said in a statement. Of the Powerhouse Animation leadership, which also maintains a small studio in the L.A. area that is unionized with TAG, Kaplan added, “I look forward to building on our established good relationship in Los Angeles to reach a first contract with the Austin studio.”
Powerhouse Animation CEO and chief creative officer Brad Graeber said, “As a studio founded by animators who wanted to improve the industry, Powerhouse has always tried to put our incredible team of artists first.” He added, “When we learned that our staff wanted to organize, we worked with the union to recognize their organization in a way that was fair for our very unique studio in Texas.”
The union first announced its organizing drive at the studio in late April, with workers asking for voluntary recognition and filing a petition for a National Labor Relations Board election. At the time, union backers said they were looking to secure wage equality and job security by joining a union. Workers said they were additionally looking to help their employer strike more favorable contracts with clients, improve work-life balance and enrich career training opportunities.
Said Powerhouse Animation character artist and organizing committee member MinJi Yoon in a statement, “Now we really have the power to fortify what makes this place the groundbreaking studio it is and to advocate for our own working conditions with fair representation. At this critical point for the future of our industry, I’m also incredibly excited to stand in solidarity with the rest of entertainment workers in America.”
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