Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469966
14 KEYFRAME T H E L O C A L WHEN UNIONS UP THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA GAME, THEY INSPIRE NEW LEVELS OF MEMBER ENGAGEMENT AND SOLIDARITY. #UNIONSTRONG Social media is a powerful tool, and in recent years labor unions around the country have harnessed its energy. TAG is no exception. With the creation of a TAG Communications Department, and various craft committees launching online campaigns, Local 839 has used social media to capture attention, empower members, and grow the Union in a variety of significant ways. EDUCATING FELLOW UNION MEMBERS During the 2018 negotiations, when the Color Stylists Committee (as it was then called) released its #ColorIsDesign social media campaign, the goal was simple: education. They needed their fellow TAG members to know what they were fighting for: as designers they wanted pay equity with comparable design crafts. "This was before the Guild even had a communications department," says Color Designers Committee Co-Chair Teri Hendrich Cusumano, who led the effort. Along with their campaign they circulated a petition asking for support, and by the time negotiations started, the petition had more than 2,600 signatures that included show creators such as Rebecca Sugar, Lauren Faust, Craig McCracken, Ian Jones-Quartey, Niki López, and Jorge R. Gutiérrez, to name a few. This high-profile support drew the attention of Deadline and other media, and Hendrich Cusumano believes these efforts helped with contract gains such as Color Stylists being recognized as Color Designers. "The producers' first responded to the Color Designer proposal in 2018 with no interest to move on the issue," she says. "I then made my presentation to them which highlighted aspects of the #ColorIsDesign campaign—primarily the petition. Immediately after that presentation, the AMPTP responded with the two gains we won that year: a title change and a shortened wage schedule equal to other design crafts." Extending beyond contract negotiations, educating membership via social media efforts has addressed various learning topics, both craft-specific and broader subjects like the importance of a union. The Storyboard Committee produced a series of comics and videos aimed at informing Animation Guild members about important issues like how to run for TAG office, breaking down the MPI pension and 401(k) plans, the role of shop stewards, and more. These visually appealing graphics posted on social media helped expand the reach of the Union and engage more members. The Testing Committee was also able to effectively leverage social media to increase dialogue about their efforts to address abusive testing in the industry. The committee created a web page (animationguild.org/testing-is-a- choice) and asked TAG members to submit all tests for review in order to help change the industry's abusive culture of testing. They promoted this effort through a series of educational comics illustrated by Kris Mukai. One comic on getting ghosted after taking an animation test garnered more than 700,000 Twitter impressions. "The value of these posts going semi-viral is that it generates a lot of discussion and spurs artists to question the practice of testing in the first place, rather than just accepting it as the norm," says Testing Committee Co-Chair and Executive Board member Danny Ducker. "The 'baked-in' nature of testing has been one of the biggest hurdles, so open and public questioning really helps with our efforts." CAPTURING MEDIA ATTENTION In the summer of 2021, with TAG's delayed negotiations looming, a graphic containing inaccurate data about WGA's live-action writers and TAG's animation writers circulated on Twitter. In response, Janis Robertson, a member of the Writers Craft Committee, suggested they create their own graphic to highlight pay disparities. A subcommittee made up of Robertson, Joey Clift, Greg Hahn, and Cassie Soliday above, from top: Social media campaigns from the Color Designers Committee, Testing Committee, and Writers Craft Committee boosted TAG's presence online and led to significant media attention. opposite page, from top: The #NewDeal4Animation hashtag and graphic anchored TAG's social media campaigns; The Production Strong graphic gave TAG members a way to support production crews in their organizing efforts.