1
Credit: DisneyIn yet another turning point for the Walt Disney Company, another department has officially voted to unionize. The state of the film industry became front-and-center news earlier this year when the Writers Guild of America (WGA) declared a strike after a series of failed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Two months later in July, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) would join them, creating the first double strike in decades.
Months of failed negotiations followed for both unions, effectively shutting down Hollywood just a few years after the 2020 COVID pandemic did the same. It soon became international news, and it brought the unpleasant inner workings of the film industry to light. Reports of AI screenings and complaints about streaming residuals were rampant, as well as claims of 14-hour days and no days off. Perhaps most shocking was the fact that many of these reports were coming from employees of Marvel and Disney, two of the biggest film studios in the world.
After the box office failure that was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania earlier this year, it was revealed that VFX workers were forced to pull 72-hour work weeks back to back in an effort to make the film ready for its last-minute February premiere after switching release dates with The Marvels. As a result of the poor conditions on Ant-Man, as well as conditions revealed on other Marvel Cinematic Universe projects like the Disney+ shows, She-Hulk, Secret Invasion, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Marvel VFX workers voted to unionize in a shocking move.
Following that announcement, Walt Disney Animation Studios production workers announced their intention to follow suit, and as of yesterday, have officially voted to unionize. Disney, like Marvel, has seen a string of disappointing releases since 2020. A variety of factors could be to blame, including the shift to focus on streaming on Disney+ content, to the lack of originality with constant live-action remakes, to the shake-up with former CEO Bob Chapek and reinstated CEO Bob Iger.
Public opinion of the Walt Disney Company has been falling across the board in the last few years, and the Disney entertainment sector was not spared from this fate. Disney’s animation workers first announced their intent to unionize back in March, although they’ve been fighting for recognition for over a year, and were able to work in tandem with the writers’ and actors’ strikes to fight for better pay, better hours, and better benefits with the Walt Disney Company.
This marks a tremendous turning point for not only the Walt Disney Company and its animation team, but for the film industry as a whole. This year has been full of workers fighting for well-deserved rights and benefits, and it’s continuing to raise awareness of everything that goes into creating some of our beloved blockbuster films and shows. This is a major win for employees at Walt Disney Animation Studios and hopefully just another step forward for those in the film industry as a whole.
What do you think about the latest group to unionize? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!