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THE PEG-BOARD -- Information Superhighway Edition -- April 1994
This is a monthly posting of excerpts from THE PEG-BOARD, the newsletter of
the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical Electronic and
Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE. THE PEG-BOARD is also published in printed
format.
Local 839 IATSE is the largest local union of film artists in the world. We
have over 1,500 active members employed in animation and CGI in Southern
California.
In this month's issue:
* Warner Bros. Settles 839 Contract
* Disney Bails Out On Non-Union Benefits
* From The President, by Tom Sito
* From The Business Representative, by Steve Hulett
* In Memoriam
* Animation In The News
* Local 839 On The Air
* Computer Animation Grows Mightily
* Masthead
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WARNER BROS. SETTLES 839 CONTRACT
After almost ten months of negotiations, we are pleased to report that
WARNER BROS. ANIMATION has agreed to a new contract with Local 839. The new
contract gives Warners employees scale pay retroactive to August 1, 1993 --
the same conditions previously agreed to by DISNEY, HANNA-BARBERA and
UNIVERSAL.
The Cartoonists negotiating committee, including DOUG MCCARTHY, LINDA
REDONDO, ALAN BURNETT, BRYAN EVANS, ALFRED GIMENO, CAROLYN GUSKE, NICK
HOLLANDER, ERIC RADOMSKI, TOM RAY, GREG REYNA and ROSE ANN STIRE, sat down
with Warner Bros. management on March 28 at 10:15 am and concluded
negotiations before lunch.
The new package, continuing to October 31, 1996, is almost identical with
other studio contracts, calling for 3% raises in each of the next three
years. The union asked for and got the classification of Color Stylist into
the new contract. Warner Bros. received new language regarding dismissal
pay, and a side letter promising the union would not unreasonably deny
applications from employees who wished to work part-time.
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EURO DISNEY BAILOUT
Company cuts non-union benefits
Euro Disney reached some financial light at the end of the tunnel on March
14 when a consortium of French banks (sixty-three in number) gave a
"generally favorable" reception to a restructuring plant presented by the
steering committee of nine banks representing them in negotiations.
The main pillar of the plan is a 6 billion franc ($1.04 billion) rights
offering, an issue where the banks and Disney will pitch in more cash to
reduce Euro Disney's debt. The banks will underwrite 51% of the offering and
Disney will subscribe to the remaining 49%. The issue will hopefully reduce
debt from its current $3.64 billion to $2.1 billion. The Disney Co., 49%
owner in the Euro park, has agreed to waive its royalties and management
fees for five years. Fees will be reduced for an unspecified period of time
thereafter.
In a related cost-cutting move, Disney announced it was tightening
eligibility requirements for retirees' health-care benefits for its
non-union employees. Under the new Disney policy, a worker must stay with
the company until age 55 to be eligible for continued coverage after
retirement.
The new rules do not affect employees under Local 839's multi-employer
pension plan. They will qualify for retiree health care after twenty years
and twenty thousand hours of union employment, regardless of how long they
worked for any one company or where they're working at the point of
retirement.
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FROM THE PRESIDENT
by Tom Sito
Who built Thebes of the Seven Gates?
On it are inscribed only the names of Kings.
When the Great Wall was finished
Where did the workers go?
-- So many questions ...
-- Bertolt Brecht
Anyone who's read history as long as I have knows it can be molded and
shaped to reflect the viewpoint of whomever is writing it. Napoleon called
history "fables we can all agree on".
I remember after all the reading I had done on the Civil War, what a shock
the movie GLORY was. I had never realized that thousands of
African-Americans had fought for the Union. I felt that something had been
kept from me.
Ever try to find a good, exciting book on labor history? When you want to
read how the forty-hour week came into being, or how the Writers Guild won
royalties on screenplays, you have to dig real hard.
Our concepts and prejudices about labor unions have been crafted by
mainstream writing as deftly as an ad campaign sells us margarine. Now, I'm
not expounding conspiracy theories here. I'm merely noting the fact that
historical works that gloss over the struggle of working people are more
likely to be printed by large corporate publishers than those that lionize
them. Shakespeare knew when he wrote Richard III that if he portrayed the
hunchbacked king his queen's grandfather bumped off as less than a complete
monster he'd be in deep doo-doo.
So, the prevailing fables we have about our labor history are that there was
no such thing as unions until socialists in the "Gay Nineties" and gangsters
in the 1930's invented them to subvert the American system as we know it.
America is about lone heroes like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Unions mean
Jimmy Hoffa and On The Waterfront. Labor activists were first labeled
radical revolutionaries, then Communists, then mobsters, and now outmoded
relics of the macro-industrial past.
That artists would want to join a union is, of course, as nutty as a chicken
with lips. Unions are for dockworkers and miners.
Well, the facts that I'm finding don't quite support those carefully
tailored impressions. The struggle for the average Joe and Jill to make a
dignified living goes back as far as recorded time. And artists have always
been in the forefront.
The first recorded labor strike in history was brought to my attention by
the wonderful and mysterious Dana Reemes. It occurred in 1170 B. C., in the
twenty-ninth year of the reign of Pharaoh Ramses III. The artists working on
the tombs of the Necropolis were being denied their proper rations, so the
scribe Amennakht and the chief artist Khonsu causeth the men to sit down and
maketh a big stink unto the Pharaoh's Vizier, To. Ramses knew his
immortality depended on these artists finishing their work, so they were
paid.
The immortality of our modern Pharaohs still rests on our doing or not doing
our work.
In the Middle Ages, artists and craftsmen formed mutual protection societies
called guilds (from the German geldt, or gold). Fraternitas, Hermandades,
Schwurbruderschaft, all were to regulate the fair price of items and make
sure you could stand up to your noble employers with a united voice. The
guilds often had a patron saint. Traditionally, on December 26 all good
guildsmen ate themselves sick and drank themselves silly until, in a total
stupor, they swore oaths to the Saints to support one another as equals come
what may. Sounds like a custom that should be revived.
The first mention in history of Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco) is in
1572, paying his initiation fee to the Guild of St. Luke in Rome. (He was an
intern under Titian).
After Ghiselbertus got the first personal credit, some artists tried to go
it alone. Michelangelo negotiated his own price for the Sistine ceiling with
his employer, Pope Julius II. The agreed price, 35,000 ducats for seven
years' work less rent, materials and wages for apprentices, was one of the
first examples of an artist being shafted on a deal. (Serves him right for
being a subcontractor.) Julius II, "il Papa terrible", funded wars
throughout Italy, hired Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, and began St.
Peter's Basilica, and he died leaving the Vatican a budget surplus! I'd have
hated to have been on a negotiating committee opposite HIM.
The first labor strike in the New World also involved artists. In Jamestown
Colony in 1619, four Polish and two Dutch artists, brought over to decorate
the new church, put down their brushes when they were refused the rights of
Englishmen. They won.
Next month, I'll tell you about the Wobblies, the eight-hour day and the
first cartoonist strikes. Let me leave you with a quote from the Statutes of
the Confederacy of Rennes (1653):
Woe unto him that is alone, for should he stumble, no one is
there to help him up. Better two than one, for there is profit
in company.
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FROM THE BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE
by Steve Hulett
While Brother Sito regales you with tales of guilds and unions in the long
ago, allow me to describe Local 839's recent past ... and soon-to-be future.
As you know from the above, the Warner Bros. negotiations ended successfully
on March 28 when the company agreed to retroactive pay back to August 1,
1993, as every other animation studio had already done. Less well-known is
how crucial the support and participation of Warner Bros. employees were to
the outcome of the negotiations. Producers, directors, animators, and color
stylists sat down at the Sportsmen's Lodge to tell Warners management that
they did not want to focus on anything beside Warners' refusal to pay the
contract minimums retroactively to August 1.
After a high-decibel opening session where Warners insisted it needed a
sideletter to bring in foreign employees which would alter the bargaining
unit, the union negotiating committee held a quick caucus and made it clear
to the business representative (me) that it didn't care for Warners'
proposal. Shortly thereafter, Warners met with the union attorney and
business representative to hammer out an alternate side agreement on
part-time employees that the negotiating committee decided it could live
with.
Once the sideletter was hammered out, Warners relented, and a final package
including retroactive pay was reached by noon.
Now, all of the above sounds tedious and legalistic, but the real-life
aspects of negotiating can be tense. Will the members of the negotiating
committee hang together and not start arguing at the top of their lungs,
calling each other choice and pungent names? Will the company or companies
on the other side of the table -- adamant about the give-backs that they
want -- at last see the light and change their positions? Will the
negotiating committee agree on action that needs to be taken? Are these
endless negotiations ever going to come to an end? Are we ever going to have
a new contract?
There were times over these past four or five months that I wondered, but
all the committee members from the various studios hung in there and worked
to hammer out decent contracts, and got them. I have learned over the course
of four-and-a-half years that the involvement of employees is absolutely
essential to successful negotiations. I've yet to meet a management rep who
cares what I say or how passionately I say it during negotiations. They care
a great deal, however, about what their key employees have to say. These
long and difficult negotiations amply demonstrated that.
And what of the future? Well, there are non-contract studios to organize,
CGI and interactive companies to think about, new artists and technicians to
train. In a matter of months Warner Bros. will begin staffing its new
feature animation division, and yet another company will be staking a claim
to the territory Disney has occupied almost unopposed the last sixty years
-- theatrical feature animation. If we are to prosper, we will all have to
stretch our creative muscles and make sure that the new studios and their
product succeed in the marketplace. And equally important, we must make sure
the new studios work under a contract.
They're the two best ways we can insure that burgeoning careers in animation
are both long and lucrative.
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IN MEMORIAM
*** Retired director and producer OSCAR DUFAU died on February 8.
Starting in 1956, Dufau worked at Graphic Films, Ray Patin,
Churchill-Wexler, MGM, DePatie-Freleng, Filmation, Chuck Jones, Sanrio and
Hanna-Barbera.
*** Longtime animation cameraman CHUCK FLEKL died on February 7.
*** 1986 Golden Award winner LAVELLE HAINES HOWARD died on February 21.
From 1936 until her retirement in 1976, she worked as an inker, painter and
final checker at Lantz, Sutherland, TV Spots, Kling, Cascade, Hanna-Barbera,
Raphael Wolff, Ray Patin and Disney.
*** Animation veteran and 1985 Golden Award winner WALTER LANTZ died
March 22 at the age of ninety-three. As head of the studio best remembered
for Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, he held several records. He had the
longest uninterrupted studio contract in Hollywood history, with Universal
since 1929. Since 1935 he ran his own production company, Walter Lantz
Productions; his was the longest stint as the head of an American animation
studio. Last but certainly not least, he was the first West Coast animation
employer to sign a union contract, with the Screen Cartoonists Guild in
1941.
By the way, we commend The Los Angeles Times for publishing the first obit
we've seen that didn't refer to Lantz as "the creator of Woody Woodpecker
and Andy Panda". As Lantz himself would have been the first to point out,
Woody Woodpecker was the creation of the late Ben Hardaway; Andy Panda was
originated by the late Alex Lovy.
As a long-time employer of screen cartoonists and as a cooperative friend,
Lantz will be missed.
*** FRANK WELLS, president and chief operating officer of the Walt
Disney Company, was killed April 3 in a helicopter crash near Lamoille,
Nevada. Wells began his corporate career in the motion picture industry at
Warner Bros., which he left in 1984 to join Disney. His partnership with
Michael Eisner has been credited with turning around the fortunes of the
company, producing hits including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast
and Aladdin, and making the theme parks more profitable (until the losses at
EuroDisney). Michael Eisner will be assuming Wells' duties.
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ANIMATION IN THE NEWS
DISNEY's first animated feature SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, which has
made the Disney Company several hundred million dollars over the past
fifty-seven years, will come to home video for the first time this Fall ...
THE RETURN OF JAFAR, a direct-to-video sequel to ALADDIN, will hit the
nation's video stores in May. JAFAR, which has a trailer at the front of the
new Disney video release of THE FOX AND THE HOUND, was initially conceived
as a four-parter for Disney's upcoming ALADDIN television series, with
animation done at Disney's Australia and Japanese studios. But the resulting
work was promising enough to reshape into a direct-to-video feature release.
Ten minutes of tightening and a high-budget soundtrack helped lift JAFAR
above the usual television fare. The final product came in at a brisk
running time of sixty-five minutes. All the original cast members, with the
notable exception of Robin Williams, reprised their voice roles.
While McDonalds has a huge tie-in with HANNA-BARBERA's once and future
animated TV show THE FLINTSTONES in its upcoming live-action feature
incarnation, Burger King will be aligning itself with Disney's summer
animated feature THE LION KING, pumping an estimated $17-$20 million into
their promotional campaign. This will top their ALADDIN promotion, which
weighed in at $15-$17 million ...
Don Bluth's latest opus, THUMBELINA, languished in eighth place in its first
week in theaters. DAILY VARIETY reported the following (4/5/94):
Animator Don Bluth left the U.S. to avail himself of Ireland's
lower labor costs, but a close check of the credits for THUMBELINA
reveals a number of Vietnamese names involved in the project.
Bluth says costs have gone up in Ireland, too, resulting in some work
now being shipped to Hungary, where it is done by Vietnamese artists
in Budapest.
AMBLIMATION, Steven Spielberg's London feature unit, will be relocating to
the Universal lot later this year. They plan to begin work on a new project
in the waning months of '94 ...
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LOCAL 839 ON THE AIR
On February 28, Local 839 President TOM SITO was interviewed on KCRW's WHICH
WAY L. A. program, in which he discussed the explosion of the computer film
graphics industry in Los Angeles, and the steps Local 839 is taking to
organize in the field.
In case you missed the above, President Sito and Business Representative
STEVE HULETT are scheduled to be on the Labor Scene program on KPFK 90.7, on
May 23 at 7 pm.
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COMPUTER ANIMATION GROWS MIGHTILY
Computer animation grew by 72% in 1992, compared to 1991. The statistic is
reported by the Toronto animation supplier Pixel.
The value of commercial-grade computer animation production reached $3.8
billion by the end of 1992, compared with $2.2 billion the year previously.
55% was generated in the U.S. and Canada. They reported predicted growth to
be 42% in 1993, decreasing to gains of 22% by 1998.
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MOTION PICTURE SCREEN CARTOONISTS
AND AFFILIATED OPTICAL ELECTRONIC AND GRAPHIC ARTS,
LOCAL 839 IATSE
4729 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91602-1864
phone (818) 766-7151 * fax (818) 506-4805
E-mail inquiries: jma...@netcom.com
PRESIDENT -- Tom Sito
BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE -- Steve Hulett
VICE-PRESIDENT -- George Sukara
RECORDING SECRETARY -- Jeff Massie
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS -- David Teague
PEG-BOARD EDITOR -- Jeff Massie
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Viki Anderson * Bronwen Barry * Sheila Brown * Jan Browning * James Davis
Craig Littell-Herrick * Tom Ray * Pat Sito * Ann Sullivan (on leave) * Stephan Zupkas
TRUSTEES -- Pat Sito * Ann Sullivan (on leave) * Stephan Zupkas
Contents (c) 1994 by MPSC Local 839 IATSE. All rights reserved. Publications
of bona fide labor organizations may reprint articles from this newsletter
so long as attribution is given. Permission is also given to distribute this
newsletter electronically so long as the ENTIRE contents are distributed,
including this notice.
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