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Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Vancouver’s Film and TV Industry is Facing One of its ‘Toughest Slowdowns’. Animators and Visual Effects Workers Are Unionizing to Take Back Control.
pressprogress.ca: Amid pressure from Donald Trump’s tariffs, the threat of artificial intelligence and the disruptive influence of streaming services, Canadian animation and visual effects workers in Vancouver are organizing their workplaces to secure their jobs and raise wages.
3 comments:
Sid James
said...
I am surprised that Canadian animation and video effects workers have not been unionized until now. I was always aware of how prominent Canadian film artists, particularly in the Vancouver area, have been in the making of high-budget movies with lots of CGI such as the Marvel movies, as well as movies out of Hong Kong. I am glad that Canadian workers are realizing the benefits of unionizing their labor, especially in the age of AI and considering the effects of recent tariffs. With IATSE being a union whose membership spans international borders, I wonder why Canadian technicians hadn’t unionized sooner. I am unfamiliar with the perception of unionization in Canada, and I wonder if that has anything to do with why Canadian film workers have not unionized until now. Another interesting thing was Canada’s distinction between High Technology Professionals and other professionals. I don’t know if we have something similar in the U.S., but I struggle to see the purpose of this legal distinction.
At first, I thought the title of this article was written in an odd way, as if digital artists finally unionizing in Canada was to blame for this slowdown. I’m really glad these artists are getting more fair transparency, security, and treatment, and am surprised it didn’t come sooner. Getting a deal done during such hard financial times is also very impressive. I think it’s absolutely necessary to stand up for what’s right, especially during hard times, because there will always be something that could be used by companies as an excuse to not work with unions. I think it’s incredibly necessary to stand up against the use of AI in these landscapes as well. Protecting workers’ pay and their film credits are a bare minimum, and they should absolutely be stood up for in terms of working with AI or their art being used to train it. Another big concept in digital art is not being given enough time to deliver a quality product or being forced to work unpaid overtime. These are both unacceptable and I hope the current organizing sets a new precedent to not let this continue.
It is good that the Canadian animation and VFX companies are jumping into action to raise the rights and pay of their workers as the current global AI development and current politics threatens the entertainment industry. I think it’s important to unionize if wages and rights are not being met for a job, and when the job is art related it becomes even more difficult. I think artists in all fields from film, animation, theatre, art curation, etc sometimes settle for years with being mistreated because the passion for projects or desire to climb the arts pyramid clouds our ability to look further into what jobs can do for us outside of being a career stepping stone. Animators to me are criminally underpaid everywhere as they often run against tight, strict deadlines that lead to many overtime and over exertion hours that are not compensated properly. Many animated TV series and film post mortems from animators end with the mad last month dash to meet impossible milestones and deadlines.
3 comments:
I am surprised that Canadian animation and video effects workers have not been unionized until now. I was always aware of how prominent Canadian film artists, particularly in the Vancouver area, have been in the making of high-budget movies with lots of CGI such as the Marvel movies, as well as movies out of Hong Kong. I am glad that Canadian workers are realizing the benefits of unionizing their labor, especially in the age of AI and considering the effects of recent tariffs. With IATSE being a union whose membership spans international borders, I wonder why Canadian technicians hadn’t unionized sooner. I am unfamiliar with the perception of unionization in Canada, and I wonder if that has anything to do with why Canadian film workers have not unionized until now. Another interesting thing was Canada’s distinction between High Technology Professionals and other professionals. I don’t know if we have something similar in the U.S., but I struggle to see the purpose of this legal distinction.
At first, I thought the title of this article was written in an odd way, as if digital artists finally unionizing in Canada was to blame for this slowdown. I’m really glad these artists are getting more fair transparency, security, and treatment, and am surprised it didn’t come sooner. Getting a deal done during such hard financial times is also very impressive. I think it’s absolutely necessary to stand up for what’s right, especially during hard times, because there will always be something that could be used by companies as an excuse to not work with unions. I think it’s incredibly necessary to stand up against the use of AI in these landscapes as well. Protecting workers’ pay and their film credits are a bare minimum, and they should absolutely be stood up for in terms of working with AI or their art being used to train it. Another big concept in digital art is not being given enough time to deliver a quality product or being forced to work unpaid overtime. These are both unacceptable and I hope the current organizing sets a new precedent to not let this continue.
It is good that the Canadian animation and VFX companies are jumping into action to raise the rights and pay of their workers as the current global AI development and current politics threatens the entertainment industry. I think it’s important to unionize if wages and rights are not being met for a job, and when the job is art related it becomes even more difficult. I think artists in all fields from film, animation, theatre, art curation, etc sometimes settle for years with being mistreated because the passion for projects or desire to climb the arts pyramid clouds our ability to look further into what jobs can do for us outside of being a career stepping stone. Animators to me are criminally underpaid everywhere as they often run against tight, strict deadlines that lead to many overtime and over exertion hours that are not compensated properly. Many animated TV series and film post mortems from animators end with the mad last month dash to meet impossible milestones and deadlines.
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