If Canadian animators start demanding higher (fairer) pay and/or we get a union formed won't that create a collapse in the amount of animation jobs sent here? I would love to have wages reflect the cost of living in a city like Vancouver but if we lose a huge chunk of jobs then we are equally as screwed, are we not? I dunno, I feel like we're between a rock and a hard place.
This is a common refrain. The most difficult thing about it is you canāt prove a negative. Could our industry collapse if we demand fair wages or unionize? Maybe. But it also could not.
We can, however, present some compelling evidence that the industry will most likely not collapse. All of live action in Vancouver is unionized, and they had to fight hard for that. They thought their industry would collapse as well, but they risked it and guess what? It didnāt. Not only did it not, but it has grown since unionization into one of the top industries in our province. It employs thousands of workers, all union. They have fair pay, long term collective agreements with the production companies and overtime compensation.
Additionally, even with unionization and potential wage increases, Vancouver is still the most cost effective option for animation. BC tax credits pay back huge portions of our wages, our dollar is low, we are on the same time zone as Los Angeles and a plane ride here is two hours. Anyone who has worked in a shop with outsourced animation knows that there are major pitfalls to that model - the time difference alone creates huge costs for studios.
Right now we are the cheapest option in the English speaking world, and thatās important. Studios canāt have storyboards done in countries with significant cultural differences. Same with animation, the language barrier is a major issue.
No one seems to be discussing how fair pay and unions actually create stability in our industry, and make us more attractive. If we can produce better quality work because we are staying at studios, are healthy, and have a good work/life balance, our employers and their clients benefit far more than getting a shoddy product done for no money. Their shows will be more attractive to audiences, more creative, and better executed. Instead of constantly being hustled through the pipeline based on what studios need right now, we would have an opportunity to become experts in our particular area, be it key layout, backgrounds, character animation, designs or storyboards.It can take the boom we are in and make this a long term foundation from which generations of artists will be brought up in.
Sometimes people worry the work will go to Toronto or Halifax. Our thoughts on that have been made a reality with the wage share. Toronto and Halifax are not far behind us in terms of organization. They see what happens here, and we doubt that they will remain ignorant if we organize and push for fair pay and overtime compensation. Media unions are international, and there are labour laws in Ontario that studios have to follow as well.
Moving a production, in particular when that production has several seasons, is extremely expensive. Itās doubtful the additional cost of our wages will make up that cost.
If they move animation from Vancouver, where are they going to get the talent? Who is going to make their productions? We are. They will move us all out to Toronto or Halifax and we will just organize there. We donāt think artists understand - you make up a TINY portion of the population. There are so few people in the world that can do what we do that studios have to recruit internationally to staff their Netflix or Amazon or Dreamworks or Hasbro shows.
Lastly, all of our jobs could disappear anyways. They did in 2001 and again in 2008. At least if we have fair wages and a union, we will be protected during those downturns. Unions often have provisions for extending health benefits while artists arenāt working and provide training and upgrading during dry spells. We will be able to save more money through our pay and OT compensation to carry us through a crash. We are really confused as to how the threat of job loss justifies the continued exploitation of a workforce. If we are all employed badly is that better than most of us being employed well? If artists can bank savings, does that not mean that they may be able to start studios themselves, thus hiring more artists? Is it not better to build our industry with a solid brick foundation of mutual respect instead of the quicksand of exploitative worker practices? Honestly, if we continue to allow ourselves to be exploited, we may contribute to the major downfall of our industry, instead of a potential (but very unlikely) temporary blip.
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