Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1079787
18 KEYFRAME Steve Kaplan ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT ORGANIZING A STUDIO OR NEW PRODUCTION Most of you have probably met Steve Kaplan. Between 2010 and 2015, he served as TAG's in-house organizer until he left to work with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. At the IA, he was charged with organizing visual effects and non-traditional motion picture and television production work, such as animation. He is a Guild member, a Trustee and serves on TAG's Executive Board. Here, he answers some common questions about organizing. UNIONIZING 101 "Every successful organizing drive has an internal committee that is dedicated and focused on getting this done." T H E L O C A L HOW DO YOU START? Organizing starts with a conversation. Somebody who's passionate about an animation shop going union has to talk to their peers about it; they have to relate it to something personal that they can tie to current situations and workplace concerns at the studio. There are reasons why that animation shop should be working under a union contract that only the crew will know. I try to identify those points and then empower the person who is going to be the internal organizer. It's important to remember that these conversations can be awkward since talking about a union isn't a typical conversation. Thus, having a peer suggest a way to change something at the studio through collective action needs to come from the heart and should always be tied to a workplace issue that organizing can solve. HOW TO YOU START HAVING THOSE CON- VERSATIONS WITHOUT SHOWING YOUR HAND? You find a common thread. It might just be access to the MPI Health Plan, or how The Animation Guild agreement mandates paid holidays and vacation time. The conversations should focus on making positive changes that then become a regular policy in the studio. BUT YOU ALSO ADVOCATE GOING OUT FOR COFFEE OR LUNCH. That is part of the rules about interaction in the workplace. Any sort of discussion, especially when one is afraid of being found out as a pro-union supporter, should be done away from the studio. Lunch breaks, go out after work, or go out for coffee. Don't use the company's e-mail. Don't use the company's internet. It belongs to the company and they are within their rights to track it. Talk to people you trust first. Adding them to your group of supporters is an easier task than going up to a brand new board artist who you saw at another studio once. WHAT MAKES AN EFFORT SUCCESSFUL? Every successful organizing drive has an internal committee that is dedicated and focused on getting this done. So that process requires people to identify what policies in the studio need to be changed or implemented, be able to say how a union contract could address those needs and then explain that no matter how difficult it is to get to the contract