Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites Production Workers File to Join Animation Union

The workers who make Justin Roiland’s hit animated series Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites have filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, in order to join The Animation Guild. According to a statement by one of the production crew (via Twitter): “Big news – today me & my production coworkers at Solar Opposites and Rick and Morty have filed to unionize with TAG. I’m so proud of all the work that has been done already and am excited to fight for a better future in animation with all of them #productionstrong“.

According to the union, the Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites production teams filed for recognition with TAG as a “super majority” of workers, from a range of jobs involved with the show – including, “production managers, production supervisors, design assistants, casting assistants, storyboard coordinators, office production coordinators and assistants.”

According to TAG’s statement, there’s been a response from the studios behind these series (Adult Swim and 20th Century Studios) “stating that the productions’ parent studios, Adult Swim and 20th Century Fox, were not willing to voluntarily recognize the entire unit as was proposed by The Animation Guild.” In short: it will have to be a negotiation (fight?) before all of these workers will get what they want. 

Professional life and its subsequent job satisfaction have been topics of increased scrutiny since the pandemic happened. Job markets all over the world are shifting as workers take new stock of what they should be prioritizing in life; not surprisingly, industries like animation and gaming have been particularly loud as of late, as the hard-working people behind them make renewed attempts to improve their collective situation. The hashtag #NewDeal4Animation has been out there since late November, when TAG started negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) ffor new master agreements for animators. 

Statements are being released by various Rick and Morty and/or Solar Opposites workers – such as production manager Kallan Zimmerman, who says, “Production workers are the heart of the animation industry and have been underappreciated and undercompensated for far too long.”

Fans of Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites are already dredging up some of Justin Roiland’s past conflicts with workers and/or unions. A Reddit thread of deleted comments by Roiland showed him clashing with TAG back in the early 2010s, when Rick and Morty had to renegotiate contracts for its workers. At the time, Roiland expressed his frustration with the union’s “strong arming” tactics to turn workers against him. It’ll be interesting to see how the animated creator approaches this latest challenge. 

Rick and Morty Season 6 and Solar Opposites Season 3 are both in production. 

Via: THR