Every Year the Animation Guild Sends Delegates to the IATSE District 2 Convention Wherever It’S Being Hosted
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ANIMATION GUILD AND AFFILIATED ELECTRONIC AND GRAPHIC ARTS Los Angeles, California, March 2021 Vol. 50, No3 Every year The Animation Guild sends Delegates to the IATSE District 2 Convention wherever it’s being hosted. In 2020, the 76th Convention was scheduled to take place in June, but the pandemic and stay-at-home orders delayed the convention until October and then forced it online, where Dele- gates carried out the usual business of education, leadership, and moving our union forward. IATSE District 2 represents 45,000 members across 49 local unions in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Hawai‘i, and those Locals usually convene in various cities in those four states to craft policy and make decisions to pro- tect IA workers and improve working conditions in our industries. Delegates represent their Locals as they work on issues that are important to fellow members in the entertainment industry. Representatives of the Animation Guild who serve as Delegates have an opportunity to learn more about how Local 839 and the IATSE work, meet union members from other Locals and the IA’s offi ces, serve on committees that are doing the real work of running Your Chance To Make a Change (continued on page 3) IN THIS ISSUE Your Chance To Make a Change ...................................................... 1 From the President ..................................................................... 4 From the Business Representative .................................................... 6 Field Rep Corner ....................................................................... 8 TAG Members Play Key Role in Neurodiversity Panel ............................10 Design Committee Meeting ..........................................................12 Portfolio Review Day Call for Volunteers ...........................................13 NAACP Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign ...........................................14 Women’s History Month: #IATSEWomenUP Campaign ..........................15 Vanguard Virtual Education: Saving for College ...................................16 Healthy MPI: Wellness Off erings .....................................................17 In Memoriam ..........................................................................18 Upcoming Events at the Animation Guild ..........................................19 THE PEGBOARD is published monthly by The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505 • (818) 845-7500 www.animationguild.org • [email protected] PEGBOARD EDITOR SHOP STEWARDS Paula Spence Atomic DreamWorks TVA The Simpsons EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Katya Bowser Charlotte Jackson KC Johnson Alexandra Drosu Larry Smith Bento Box Fox Animation MANAGING EDITOR Teri Cusumano (Lankershim) Greg Colton Titmouse/Robin Red Breast Kimberly Fay Ashley Long (Lankershim) Joie Foster Roger Oda Drew Newman (Empire) Green Portal Walt Disney Animation PRESIDENT Cartoon Network Jack Cusumano Brandon Jarratt Jeanette Moreno King Mira Lark Crowell Elisa Phillips Carrie Liao BUSINESS Paula Spence Justin Weber REPRESENTATIVE Nickelodeon Steve Kaplan Disney TVA Laura Hohman Warner Bros. TVA Scott Carpenter (Sonora) Crystal Kan Emily Walus VICE-PRESIDENT Danny Ducker (Sonora) Kyle Neswald Jack Thomas Eugene Salandra (Empire) ShadowMachine RECORDING DreamWorks Feature Mary Nash SECRETARY Jorge Garcia Paula Spence Tyler White SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Robert St. Pierre All contents © 2021 by The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839. All rights reserved. EXECUTIVE BOARD ISSN 1523-9365. Publications of bona fi de labor organizations may reprint articles from Jack Cusumano this newsletter so long as attribution is given. Danny Ducker PEGBOARD SUBSCRIPTION POLICY: Active members automatically receive The Laura Hohman Pegboard free of charge. Members on honorable withdrawal may continue to receive the Brandon Jarratt newsletter without charge by sending an annual written request on or before the expiration KC Johnson date on the mailing label. The subscription rate for suspended members and non-members Crystal Kan is $15.00 per year ($25.00 foreign, check in U. S. funds), checks made out to the Animation Carrie Liao Guild and sent to 1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505. Mike Milo Elisa Phillips Stephen Silver The Pegboard is printed on recycled Paper. TRUSTEES KC Johnson Carrie Liao Stephen Silver 2 Your Chance To Make a Change (continued from page 1) our labor unions, take part in discussions, and vote on amendments and recommendations that will aff ect this Local and others in District 2. Our President, Jeanette Moreno King, and Business Representative, Steve Kaplan, are automatic Delegates, and any other active member in good standing (no fees owed, dues fully paid up) is eligible to be elected. If you’re interested in representing the Guild at the IATSE’s District 2 and Quadrennial Conventions in June of this year, here are some things to know: We’re doing it online again, so you won’t have to travel— though the Quadrennial Convention does take place during our usual work week. You may want to take time off from work to attend, but it’s NOT a vacation—you’ll be signing in to meeting and committee sessions and working with members of other IA Locals. You will be assigned to at least one committee and expected to take part in discussion and voting. If you are ready to join others who want to make a diff erence and play an active part in planning, problem-solving, and decision-making, then read Steve Kaplan’s “From the Business Representative” column on page 6 to fi nd out how to make it happen. Elections for Delegates to the District 2 Convention will be held at the General Membership Meeting on March 30, 2021, which will take place via Zoom video conference. You can nominate yourself or someone else, or get a fellow member to nominate you. And if you can’t make it to the meeting that night, send an e-mail ahead of time to me, your Local 839 Recording Secretary, at [email protected] to let me know you’re interested—then make arrangements to have someone who will be at the meeting nominate you. We’ll talk about more details at the meeting, so join us then and consider volunteering to make something important happen! — Paula Spence, Pegboard Editor 3 STRENGTH THROUGH SHARING Did you know that it is against the law for “an employer [to] prohibit workers from disclosing their wages, discussing the wages of others, or inquiring about others’ wages” according to the California Equity Pay Act? (https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/California_Equal_Pay_Act.htm) The only time it may be illegal to discuss wages is if an employee in charge of company wage and payroll information discloses information without permission. Our state law reinforces and expands to minority groups protections that have been federal law since 1935, when the National Labor Rela- tions Act was enacted, to make talking about pay legal in the workplace. (https://www.nlrb.gov/guidance/key-reference-materials/national-la- bor-relations-act) And in 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order for non-re- taliation for Disclosure of Compensation Information to promote the idea of equal pay for equal work and to create salary transparency in the workplace. (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-of- fi ce/2014/04/08/executive-order-non-retaliation-disclosure-compensa- tion-information) That is three levels of protection and an acknowledgement that wage transparency is fundamental to our union when bargaining with the studios for higher wages and pay equity. How do we set a wage proposal without knowing what to shoot for? The Guild’s wage survey (which will be sent out very soon, so keep your eyes open!) was created for just this reason. Though it is not comprehensive since it depends on voluntary responses, it gives us a general idea of where our wages stand. It includes non-union jobs so that we can also get a snapshot of the industry standard. 4 Many employee handbooks may impose a common workplace policy that prohibits employees from discussing their pay, implied or explicitly. Some managers verbally tell employees not to discuss their salaries. Even if an employee signs a non-disclosure agreement with an employer, they still have the legal right to discuss pay with co-workers and others. So keep this in mind when you are feeling the pressure from a manager—it is technically illegal for an employer to impose pay secrecy rules or punish employees for discussing salaries. You are protected, not just by your union, but at the state and federal level. I also encourage you to practice wage transparency with your col- leagues. If you are made an off er, check with those you respect and trust around you. Be bold and ask them directly, but also acknowledge that not everyone is comfortable with giving specifi c numbers. Maybe ask for a range or ask if your off er sounds reasonable or if you should hold out for more. I realize that this conversation is hard the fi rst time you do it, but it gets much easier with practice. Sometimes people take these discussions personally, but we all need to remember that if a pay disparity is discovered, do not take it out on the person who is benefi tting from that disparity. Win them to your side. This is not a zero sum game. Ask them for advice on how they negotiated their rate. If you use the information to negotiate for a raise, make it about you and not them. If you need advice on how to approach your manager, please reach out to Guild leadership. If you and your coworkers discover a pattern of disparity, that is defi nitely a discussion worth having with our Business Rep, Steve Kaplan. We are a union. We have each other’s backs. This is a competitive industry, but let’s keep it friendly and supportive. Only the studios benefi t from dividing us. In solidarity, Jeanette Moreno King President The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 [email protected] 5 DELEGATE NOMINATIONS This year the IATSE will hold the quadrennial convention, and gives TAG the opportunity to send another strong delegation of active and en- gaged members. The quadrennial convention requires that delegates from each of the IATSE Locals be elected and attend.