Marvel Studios visual effects workers have voted “unanimously” in favor of unionizing with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents more than 168,000 craftspeople across 362 local unions in the motion picture and television production industry. In August, it was reported that more than 50 of Marvel’s VFX workers filed for a unionization election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), noted by IATSE as “a major shift in the VFX industry, which has been largely non-union since the ’70s.” The NLRB conducted the union ballot from August 21st to September 11th, with the ballots being counted Tuesday, September 12th.
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“Today, VFX workers at Marvel Studios spoke with a unanimous,collective voice, demanding fair pay for the hours they work,healthcare, a safe and sustainable working environment, and respect forthe work they do,” Mark Patch, VFX organizer for IATSE, said in astatement Wednesday. “There could be no stronger statement highlighting theoverwhelming need for us to continue our work and bring unionprotections and standards to all VFX workers across the industry. Andthere could be no stronger example of the courage and solidarity ofthese workers than each and every one of them declaring ‘union YES!’”
The vote signifies “the first time that a unit of solely VFX workers has unionized with IATSE since VFX was pioneered nearly a half-century ago.”
Disney-owned Marvel’s VFX crews are among the workers forming VFX-IATSE, the union for production and facility-based VFX workers. “Forover 125 years, the IATSE has worked with the largest names in theentertainment industry including Sony, Disney, and Warner Media to holdthem accountable for fair treatment of their workers,” reads a statement on the VFX Union website. “VFX isintegral to almost every film and television production made today. Nowit’s our turn to gain the rights and protections almost every otherentertainment worker has had for decades.”
IATSE was founded by the representatives of theater stagehands in 1893 to “support each others’ efforts to establish fairwages and working conditions for their members,” according to the union’s mission statement. The union represents nearly 200,000 craftspeople in live theater, motion picture and television production, trade shows and exhibitions, television broadcasting, concerts, equipment and construction shops — and now, in a historic move, VFX.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented wave of solidarity that’s breakingdown old barriers in the industry and proving we’re all in this fighttogether,” Matthew Loeb, IATSE President, said when announcing the Marvel VFX vote last month. “That doesn’t happen in avacuum. Entertainment workers everywhere are sticking up for eachother’s rights, that’s what our movement is all about. I congratulatethese workers on taking this important step and using their collectivevoice.”
Added VFX-IATSE organizer Patch, “For almost half a century, workers in the visual effects industry havebeen denied the same protections and benefits their coworkers andcrewmates have relied upon since the beginning of the Hollywood filmindustry. [The vote] is a historicfirst step for VFX workers coming together with a collective voicedemanding respect for the work we do.”
The unanimous vote comes after Walt Disney Pictures’ in-house VFX crew workers similarly sought to unionize with IATSE in August. VFX coordinator Bella Huffman, whose credits include Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series Hawkeye, added: “Turnaround times don’t apply to us, protected hours don’t apply tous, and pay equity doesn’t apply to us. Visual effects must become a sustainable and safe departmentfor everyone who’s suffered far too long and for all newcomers who needto know they won’t be exploited.”
In July, Vulture reported on the working conditions and “bullying power” of Marvel. An anonymous visual-effects artist reported that the company’s VFX-heavy blockbusters caused crew members to have anxiety attacks and “break down and start crying” due to strenuous work loads, months-long overtime, and Marvel’s penchant for frequent reworking of scenes and last-minute changes. (Victoria Alonso, Marvel Studios’ longtime president of physical production, post-production, VFX and animation, was fired by Marvel parent company Disney earlier this year.)
“Thingsneed to change on two ends of the spectrum. Marvel needs to train itsdirectors on working with visual effects and have a better vision out ofthe gate. The studio needs to hold its directors’ feet to the fire moreto commit to what they want. The other thing is unionization,” Vulture‘s report read. “There is agrowing movement to do that, because it would help make sure that theVFX houses can’t take bids [on jobs] without having to consider what the impactswould be. Because a lot of the time, it’s like, you get to work on aMarvel show, and you’ll work on that for cheaper just because it’s cool.”
