Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1525032
D E PA R T M E N T T H E L O C A L FALL 2024 15 TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND. I've been working with and for unions for about a decade. I started out organizing my Service Employees International Union, 32 BJ (SEIU Local 615), by signing up my co-workers on all three shifts, winning by a supermajority. I helped negotiate our first contract, and I became a steward. I started taking more time off from my job to work for my union, and a director there literally made me apply to the SEIU organizer-in-training program. I got the job, and this detour has become a career path. I took a job at SEIU Local 509 in the higher ed department where I represented IN A CONTINUATION OF ITS COMMITMENT TO SUPPORT AN INCLUSIVE ANIMATION INDUSTRY, TAG HAS L AUNCHED THE ANIMATION GUILD FOUNDATION, A NONPROFIT CREATED TO E X TEND THE GUILD'S RE ACH BE YOND THE MEMBERSHIP. WHAT ARE YOUR JOB DUTIES? My job is to assist Business Representative Steve Kaplan, ensuring compliance with the Collective Bargaining Agreements, processing grievances, learning and supporting labor relations relationships with signatory employers, supporting the goal of complete representation of animation work in the United States, negotiations when necessary, and any other duties I'm assigned. WHAT ARE SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT YOU? I am originally from Jamaica and worked as a television producer there. I love to dance and listen to music, and I have several draft screenplays that need to be edited. full-time/part-time lecturers and grad student workers at Tufts University and full-time professors and adjuncts at Lesley University for seven years. I was the chief negotiator for several contracts at Tufts and Lesley and did open bargaining at both schools—which is a lot, but I love it! I was also second chair at Boston, Bentley, Brandeis, and Northeastern Universities. The last open bargaining I did was with the Tufts A&S Grads which wrapped in January 2024. They achieved big gains through their hard work and dedication to the contract campaign escalation plan and calendar. The mission is to expand diversity in hiring and to create programs to provide support and on-going mentorship and training for career longevity. Among the programs the Foundation has planned are childcare grants for women of color, mentorship programs, recruitment events and skills building, leadership training, and retraining and skill change support. The Foundation's services, events, and programs will be crafted by advisory councils made up of Animation Guild members and staff, as well as industry experts outside the Guild. The Foundation will also draw upon the expertise of TAG's veteran members, especially those in leadership roles and hiring positions, to serve as mentors and help with recruitment and job placement. "Our members want to do so much to make things better for others, from facilitating mutual aid to building an animation archive to taking the lead on real diversity, equity, and inclusion in the industry we love," says TAG Recording Secretary Paula Spence, who is a Foundation Director along with TAG President Jeanette Moreno King and TAG Board Member Roger Oda. "But The Animation Guild, as a labor union, is limited by federal labor laws. Our dues go toward negotiations, organizing, and servicing specific needs of the membership. The Animation Guild Foundation was formed to go beyond what a labor union can do. We hope to build partnerships between TAG members and the wider animation world to learn what we can from the past, help each other get through bumpy present days, and lead the way to a future that is better for all of us." Ultimately, the aim is to promote higher employability for underrepresented workers and socio-economically disadvantaged individuals, and as a result contribute to a more equitable animation industry. Check for updates at www.tagfoundation.org.