Workers across Canada continue to gain momentum in their efforts to organize the country's animation industry.
The most recent victory for workers is Vancouver-based Kickstart Entertainment joining IATSE Canadian Animation Guild (CAG) Local 938.
Here are the details :
- Workers filed an application with the British Columbia Labor Relations Board last month and results confirming the success of the organizing efforts were released last Wednesday, January 3. That means studio workers will soon be able to begin negotiating their first collective agreement with the company.
- In a written statement, John Lewis, vice president and director of Canadian affairs for IATSE International, said: “Negotiating strong collective agreements is what we do best. We look forward to a thorough negotiation process with this company.
- Kickstart is the third animation studio that CAG 938 has successfully organized in Vancouver. The other studios are Titmouse Vancouver (which launched the local chapter of the CAG in 2021) and Wildbrain Animation Studios (who organized only a few months ago). Furthermore, the IATSE visual effects production held at DNEG Vancouver through another branch, Local 402. This made DNEG the first vendor-side visual effects shop in Canada to form a union.
- Kickstart produces animated series for children. Among his productions: Star beam (Netflix), Deepa and Anoop (Netflix), Brown and his friends (Netflix), My first Barbie (Youtube), American girl (Youtube), Itsy Mitsy (First Video), and Lucas the Spider (Maximum).
- British Columbia animation workers working at other studios and wishing to organize their workplace are encouraged to contact CAG 938 Secretary Eddy Pedreira at: Secretary (at) cag938 (dot ) That.
Top image: Photo by Mattel My first Barbiefor which Kickstart provided animation services.