THE PEG-BOARD Union Newsletter -- February 1995
MPSC Local 839 IATSE
This is a monthly posting of excerpts from THE PEG-BOARD, the newsletter
of the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and Affiliated Optical
Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE. THE PEG-BOARD is also
published in printed format.
This file is available by anonymous ftp, along with a number of other
files about Local 839. The address is:
ftp.netcom.com:/pub/mp/mpsc839
Local 839 IATSE is the largest local union of motion picture graphic
artists in the world. We have over 1,800 active members employed in
animation and CGI in Southern California.
In this month's issue:
* Membership approves strike fund
* 401(k) enrollment begins
* From the President, by Tom Sito
* From the Business Representative, by Steve Hulett
* How the union collects residuals
* MGM, CFI, Turner sign with 839
* Animation in the news
* At the water cooler
* Correspondence
* Help wanted
* In memoriam
* Masthead
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MEMBERSHIP APPROVES STRIKE FUND
Unanimously accepted plan will not raise dues
Last year, the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists polled the membership
to find out if they were in favor of setting up a Strike Fund, and if
so, would they be in favor of paying an additional fee. The poll came
back 53% in favor, 47% opposed. Almost all of the "no" votes were
opposed to the raise in dues rather than to the idea of a fund to help
members in the event of a job action.
Over the past several months the Screen Cartoonists have received
impassioned communications -- both pro and con -- regarding a Strike
Fund. In early January, the Executive Board voted to recommend to the
membership the set-up of a Strike Fund of $250,000 with an infusion of
cash from the General Fund. This solution would not involve any raise in
dues.
At the January 31 general membership meeting, President Sito outlined
the board's recommendation, stressing that there would be no change in
dues or fees, that this money would come exclusively from the General
Fund. The membership approved the board's recommendation unanimously.
What a strike fund means
Does this mean we'll be having a strike next time negotiations roll
around? No. It means we'll have money to assist us in organizing non-
union shops. It means we'll have money available if a job action is ever
contemplated in the future.
Are we going to have to pay more dues or some kind of "strike fund fee"?
No. The union's General Fund is healthy, even though the local's dues
and initiation fees are the lowest of any union in Hollywood. The board,
after long and thoughtful deliberation (and a few raised voices)
determined that we could easily afford to start a strike fund out of
current cash flow.
With the establishment of a strike fund, Local 839 takes an important
step toward protecting its members interests and strengthening its hand
in negotiations and organizing.
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401(k) ENROLLEMNT BEGINS
The week of February 6-10, over three hundred animation employees at
Disney Feature and Television Animation attended informational meetings
about MPSC's new 401(k) savings plan. The plan, administered by the
Principal Financial Group -- one of the nation's largest -- includes
twelve fund account options, teletouch investing, and loan-back
provisions after the plan runs for eighteen months.
The Screen Cartoonists' goal is to have all of our signatory studios
participate in the plan. As we go to press, Disney, Hanna-Barbera and
Turner Feature Animation have agreed to participate. If you are employed
at a signator studio that has shown no interest in being part of our
401(k) family, stop by your supervisor's office and respectfully ask if
your current employer would like to reassess its position.
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FROM THE PRESIDENT
In the time of the gypsies
In the 'seventies we all worried about all our jobs going overseas,
lately it seems that the trend is now runaway in reverse. The
uncontested success of our homemade films like Lion King and the
burgeoning concentration of the new CGI houses is drawing to L.A. the
animation talent of the world and the entrepreneurs who crave that
talent. That curious race that I once belonged to, the International
Animation gypsies, trained and seasoned in studios from Barcelona to
Berlin to Seoul, are now flocking into Tinseltown the way London was the
place in the 'eighties and Taipei or Sydney in the 'seventies.
When I came to work in L.A. in 1977,my pure Brooklynese was the most
exotic accent anyone had ever heard. Tran Vu would ask me: "Tom, How is
Noo Yawk?" And remember in 1980 when Disney wanted to hire Andreas Deja
from Germany how they jumped through hoops to get his visa? That funny
ad in the Los Angeles Times:
Wanted: Disney-style directing animator, must draw like Milt
Kahl, have a mustache, good biceps, speak German, etc. Apply
WDP.
Now our Hollywood roster rings with names like Kupzcyk and Bao Wan,
Siobhan and Raul, Hans and Ivan.
Our pride and thanks go out to the new artists in our midst and an
invitiation not to drift away when the animation teats dry but stay and
put down roots. You, our colleagues, become our neighbors and friends.
Don't think that our union is an "Americans Only" club bent on keeping
you out. Historically new immigrants were a driving force behind social
justice in America. The first abolitionists fighting in Missouri were
German immigrants who couldn't appreciate the invisible double standard
in "All Men are Created Equal" that Americans had taken for granted. The
eight-hour workday first demanded in 1886 was denounced as a foreign
idea brought from England to ruin American prosperity.
Haymarket union martyr Albert Parsons was an Austrian immigrant, our
patriot philosopher Thomas Paine was from Lincolnshire, England and the
great poet-minstrel of organised labor, Joe Hill was born Josef
Hillstrom in Sweden. And the Irish, God love them, were everywhere in
the fight wherever the average guy was getting a bum deal. It's safe to
say the union movement in the U.S. never would have gotten anywhere
without foreign workers in the forefront. And encouraging hatred of
foreigners was always a tactic of big business.
If you came here out of love of the work of the great Hollywood
animators, then help the other institution the great Hollywood animators
loved. This union.
You bring your skills and ideas from abroad, we give you, thanks to our
union, the highest standard of living in the animation world. Don't be
so na•ve as to believe these wage standards were always here like the
palm trees (they were imported too.). Bill Tytla, Art Babbitt, Maurice
Noble, Chuck Jones, all the artists you look up to fought for their
union rights. If you're goal is to step into their shoes, do it all the
way and fight for this union too. It's as much part of their legacy as
Dumbo or Droopy.
Local 839 is only against those artists who come here to punch holes in
our livestyle by helping non-union dumps. Parasites who don't care if
what they do hurts anyone and then dissappear at the end of their
tourist visas. Those artists who come to be part of the real animation
family are always welcome.
Someday some of you may get homesick and go home. Others will get good
offers somewhere else in the world and move on. Wherever you go tell
them of the strength and security you enjoyed from being a union brother
or sister, that artists don't have to take-it and take-it and just
grumble in their beers at night. Tell them our solution can be theirs
also.
For the rest, there is room at our table among the hot dogs and chili
for kielbasa and kim chee. In the 'nineties boom Local 839 welcomes the
best animation artists the World has to offer. They reinforce our
ability to say that the finest animation work in the world today is done
here and that the finest work is done Union!
Today the proudest boast a top animation artist can say is: "Dude, Ich
Bin Ein Angeleno!"
-- Tom Sito
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FROM THE BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE
Another busy month, and I could sit here and whine about how tired and
overworked I am, but I don't think the staff working seven days a week
on Pocahontas would be too sympathetic ...
Enrollments have begun at Disney Feature Animation for the 401(k) plan.
I spent two frantic weeks over there in meetings and preparations for
meetings, and the interest seemed to build day by day [see above].
Hanna-Barbera has indicated that they will be coming into the 401(k)
plan when they have finished reviewing documents. I have high hopes that
by the end of the year, most of the others studios -- including our
friends in Warners management who thus far stoutly resist -- will climb
on board the plan.
What else? Every week we get inquiries from CD-ROM companies looking to
hire artists for games, information disks, and general entertainment.
Some of these companies are in Vancouver, some in Little Rock, some in
northern California. I got a call today from one in exotic Beverly
Hills. The upshot is that they need your talents and we want to
negotiate a contract with them.
How will it happen? When will it happen? At that happy moment when they
realize they are better off securing your artistic abilities by means of
a cartoonists' contract, than by pleading with you to come work without
the Motion Picture Industry Health and Pension Plan, without our
emerging 401(k).
In features, work continues to expand. Warner Bros. Feature Animation is
hiring new artists with a view to moving to a larger facility in
Glendale in the spring. Disney Features continues to grow, cranking up
for The Hunchback of Notre Dame after Pocahontas wraps this Spring. The
Screen Cartoonists continue to negotiate with new feature animation
studios as they roll over the horizon (and we hope to have more details
about that next month.)
Television, as it has for the last few years, continues to be a burr
under the union saddle. Film Roman remains a non-signator, as do Klasky-
Csupo and Gunther-Wahl. A couple of years ago, Phil Roman -- one of our
honorably withdrawn members -- informed Tom Sito that it cost him more
to stay non-union than sign a collective bargaining agreement. I didn't
realize that paying below-contract wages was such an expensive
proposition, but I was delighted to learn it was so. I'll rest easier.
(Phil's protests remind me of car dealer Cal Yeakel's TV spots for his
Oldsmobile agency when I was a kid: "We lose money on every new Olds we
sell, but we make up for it in volume!")
As our late President Richard Nixon used to say, let me make one thing
perfectly clear. The reason that a few cartoon studios here in town
cling tenaciously to their non-union status, is because it saves them
money. Which means you are making less money. I don't expect anybody to
weep, wail and rent their garments over that fact, but I want everybody
to be aware of it.
As I have said probably three hundred and eighty-five times before, the
day that the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists evaporate into thin air,
is the day that you will be making a less livable wage.
-- Steve Hulett
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HOW YOUR UNION COLLECTS RESIDUALS FOR YOU
You may not be aware that Local 839 collects residuals under its
contract with the producers. A recent article in the newsletter of
International Photographers Guild, Local 659 IATSE, by their Executive
Director, Bruce Doering, puts it in perspective:
Many members are unaware that we benefit tremendously from residual
payments under the Hollywood Basic Agreement. Residuals negotiated by
the IATSE and Hollywood local unions are funded by a percentage of
payments derived from the selling of theatrical features to secondary
markets such as free television, cable and videocassettes.
However, unlike residuals negotiated by SAG, WGA and DGA, IATSE
residuals are not paid directly to individual members. Rather, under the
1993-1996 Basic Agreement, residuals are paid into the Motion Picture
Health And Welfare Active Plan (Active Plan), and the Health and Welfare
Retiree Plan (Retiree Plan).
Supplemental markets
Producers who have signed the Basic Agreement pay two kinds of residuals
to the Plans. First, they pay "supplemental market income" which
originates from the sale of motion picture features as videocassettes,
pay television, airlines, etc. For example, when a feature is filmed
under the Basic Agreement and within the thirteen western states, the
producer must pay between 5.4% and 8.1% of the payments derived from
such sales, into the Health and Welfare Active Plans.
Indeed, in 1994, $88 million in supplemental market income was paid into
the Active Plan, versus a total of $61 million in total hourly
contributions. As a result, the Active plan showed a $33.4 million
surplus [see The Peg-Board, January 1995, page 1]
"Post 60's"
"Post 60's" are the second kind or residual payment. Post 60's are due
when a feature film made after February 1, 1960 and shot under the Basic
Agreement is sold into the free television market. In such a case the
producer must pay 5.4% of his total worldwide gross receipts derived
from licensing the right to exhibit his motion picture on free
television.
"Post 60's" income has traditionally gone into the Retiree Plan. In
1993, however, it was agreed that about 50% of the 1994 "post 60's"
income, which amounted to about $22.5 million, would go into the Active
Plan.
Why is this important?
The importance of these residuals cannot be overestimated. Supplemental
market payments are the primary reason that, despite the skyrocketing
costs of medical care, Local 839 and other IATSE members working under
the Basic Agreement enjoy the best benefits of any union in Hollywood.
Similarly, "Post 60's" payments have permitted the Plans to maintain
full health coverage for retirees.
In short, our residuals make our health plan one of the best union plans
in the country. If we wish to keep our plan strong, then we must not
only defend our residual structure in negotiations with the producers,
but we must also organize non-union employers.
-- Bruce Doering
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MGM, CFI, Turner: the signatures just keep on coming ...
Quarterly IA/AMPTP meetings are usually lackluster affairs as far as the
Screen Cartoonists are concerned, but the meeting in Palm Springs the
last two days of January was more productive than most. MGM ANIMATION's
representative was delighted to sign the Local 839's Collective
Bargaining Agreement and bring Leo the Lion into our happy family of
signator studios. (Previously MGM had paid Local 839 members through a
payroll-service agreement, but now they are signed directly with us.)
We can also report that Turner Feature Animation is now a union shop.
Turner, which had payrolled Local 839 employees on The Pagemaster
through Hanna-Barbera, is still preparing its Cats Can't Dance feature
project.
CFI, the largest lab in Hollywood, has also signed on the dotted line,
signifying our move into visual effects and computer graphics. We
welcome MGM, CFI and Turner to the Local 839 club!
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THE FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT
Although the FMLA was signed into law by President Clinton in 1993,
final regulations were only implemented last month. Here's some details
of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993:
Q: Who is covered?
A: Federal and California state laws cover employers with fifty of more
employees for each working day in any twenty calendar weeks in the
current or preceding calendar year. Part-timers on payroll at the
beginning and end of a week are also included, but not those employees
on layoff.
An employer who has more than fifty employees in, say, April of a
calendar year but less than fifty by August would still be covered by
the act until the end of the year (December 31).
You must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the twelve months before
leave is requested.
Q: What triggers mandatory leave?
A: National and state laws provide for leave for mothers and fathers in
the case of:
1) birth of a child of the employee
2) placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster
care
3) care for a child, parent or a spouse who has a serious health
condition, or
4) the employee's own serious health condition that makes it
impossible to perform essential job functions.
Q: How much leave am I entitled to, and when?
A: Employers must allow employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave
over a twelve-month period. Leave cannot be carried over if not used
within the year. Leave for the birth or placement of a child must be
started and concluded within twelve months of that event.
Q: When can leave be denied?
A: The FMLA requires employees to give the employer as much advance
notice as possible (at least thirty days notice of the need for a leave,
if possible and such notice as practical of leave needed more quickly
than that). Notice need not be written and should be given at least two
days after the employee learns of the circumstances requiring leave.
If the employee fails to give thirty days notice for foreseeable leave,
the employer may delay the leave until thirty days after the time notice
was made, but only if the employee had knowledge of the FMLA's notice
requirement (and if you're reading this, then you've got knowledge,
right?)
Q: What are my rights during leave?
A: Federal law requires employers to continue health benefit coverage
for employees on leave. In our case, that won't present a large problem
for employers since health coverage generally continues for many months
after an employee's departure from work. However, there might be some
circumstances where an employer might have to kick in contribution hours
to continue an employee's medical coverage. Please note: an employee
cannot be required to use his bank of hours to cover a leave period.
Q: How can I enforce my FMLA rights?
A: An employee who has not been given the notices, leaves, benefits or
reinstatement rights provided for by the FMLA may:
1) file a lawsuit on his or her own behalf, or
2) file charges with the Wage and Hour Division, Employment
Standards Administration of the Department of Labor, or
3) do both. Employees can file their charges in person, by
telephone or by mail.
Space prevents us from going into all the details of the new FMLA regs.
If you have questions we haven't covered here, please call the union
office.
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ANIMATION IN THE NEWS
In 1996, Disney will release direct-to-video sequels to The Lion King
and Aladdin (the second after The Return of Jafar) ...
Lion King art work garnered almost $2 million at Sotheby's auction house
in New York on February 11, a record for animation art. The highest
price paid by the SRO crowd at the 256-piece auction was $39,100 for an
image of the lion cub Simba with Pumbaa the warthog and Timon the
meerkat ...
Hanna-Barbera's two-year cartoon shorts project kicked off on February
20, with the simultaneous airing of World Premiere Toon-In on TBS, TNT
and The Cartoon Network. The show included Craig McCracken's Powerpuff
Girls, Pat Ventura's Yuckie Duck and Genndy Tartakovsky's Dexter's
Laboratory ...
Mindy Farrell has left her post as senior vice-president of creative
affairs for Warner Bros.'s feature animation unit, and will now serve as
a consultant to the company ...
Silicon Graphics Inc. has announced the $500 million purchase of Alias
Research Inc. and Wavefront Technologies Inc. SGI's computers are widely
used with Alias and Wavefront 3-D graphics software in motion picture
animation and visual effects.
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AT THE WATER COOLER
Congrats to Chuck Jones on receiving a long-overdue star on the
Hollywood Walk Of Fame on February 13 ...
Corey and Kathleen Fredrickson of Disney Feature Animation are the proud
parents of a baby girl, born January 27 ... Turner's Kevin Johnson and
wife Marla had a daughter, Chaya Olivia, born January 17 ... Disney
assistant Wendy Muir and hubby Dave had a baby boy, Joshua ... Vladimir
Spasojevic and his wife Jelena are proud parents of a son, Sava, born
January 27 ...
Disney has honored Carmen Sanderson for her fifty years employment at
the studio ...
Retired MGM/Hanna-Barbera cartoonist Walter Clinton would like to hear
from old friends in the industry. His address is 10714 Brookside Drive,
Sun City, AZ 85351.
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CORRESPONDENCE
I'm just getting over a head cold/flu bug that has lasted a good 10
days. When the symptoms first came up, I really wanted to stay in bed
and get some needed rest. I didn't because our union contract has no
"sick day" pay. Consequently, I've been to work knowingly risking giving
my germs to fellow employees. I know this is a common experience.
Even if the producers come back and say some people will abuse the
system and "fake" sick to take a few days off each given year, those
same people could feel that is time that is important to "recharge their
batteries" so to speak.
Since our industry is a pretty strong one these days, I see no reason
why our people shouldn't be treated any differently than most other
corporations. It only seems to me to be the human thing to do. At our
next negotiations, I hope we don't let this far request flit away as
something "expendable." Thanks for your time.
-- Peter Gullerud
Warners employees have long complained about the company's unenlightened
attitude toward sick days. Other companies -- Disney being the most
notable -- have sick days for employees, but those sick days are not a
contractual requirement.
And therein lies the problem. At contract time, sick days are a burning
issue for some and not for others. When 1993 contract proposals were
being formulated, sick days were not at the top of the agenda. We urge
members of the Screen Cartoonists (beg, even) to let us know what
proposals should be brought forward in 1996 contract negotiations.
If sick days are important, show up and let us know, and the issue will
be joined.
-- Steve Hulett
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Turner Feature Animation -- Storyboard Artists Wanted
If you are looking for a exciting place to work on non-traditional
feature projects, then we are eager to meet you or at least have a look
at your work. Turner Feature Animation is presently seeking storyboard
artists with two years feature experience preferred, to work on upcoming
feature projects. If interested, please drop off your portfolio and
resume to 3330 Cahuenga Blvd., second floor. For more information call
(213) 969-4184.
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IN MEMORIAM
Key assistant animator Chris Chu died on February 5 after a long battle
with cancer. Since 1977 he had worked for Hanna-Barbera, Filmation,
Bakshi, Disney, Baer Animation and Turner Feature Animation. His family
asks that contributions in his name be made to Heal The Bay or The
Cousteau Society.
1984 Golden Award winner Larry Silverman died on January 30. From 1926
until his retirement in 1982, he worked for Terrytoons, John Terry,
Disney, Harman-Ising, Van Beuren, Film Graphics, Famous, Hanna-Barbera,
Kinney-Wolf, Sam Singer and Filmation.
Retired inker Helen Emily Stafford died on December 27. From 1938 until
her retirement in 1971, she worked for Disney, Famous, John Sutherland,
Raphael Wolff, Cascade, TV Spots, MGM, Lantz, Hanna-Barbera, Harmon-
Ticktin, Sam Singer, DePatie-Freleng, Pat Jenks and Warners.
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MOTION PICTURE SCREEN CARTOONISTS
AND AFFILIATED OPTICAL ELECTRONIC AND GRAPHIC ARTS,
LOCAL 839 IATSE
4729 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91602-1864
phone (818) 766-7151 * fax (818) 506-4805
E-mail inquiries: mps...@netcom.com
Anonymous FTP: ftp.netcom.com:/pub/mp/mpsc839
PRESIDENT -- Tom Sito
BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVE -- Steve Hulett
VICE-PRESIDENT -- George Sukara
RECORDING SECRETARY -- Jeff Massie
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS -- David Teague
PEG-BOARD EDITOR -- Jeff Massie
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Viki Anderson * Bronwen Barry * Sheila Brown * Jan Browning
James Davis * Earl Kress * Craig Littell-Herrick * Tom Ray
Pat Sito * Ann Sullivan * Stephan Zupkas
TRUSTEES -- Pat Sito * Ann Sullivan * Stephan Zupkas
Contents (c) 1995 by MPSC Local 839 IATSE. All rights reserved.
Publications of bona fide labor organizations may reprint articles from
this newsletter so long as attribution is given. Permission is also
given to distribute this newsletter electronically so long as the ENTIRE
contents are distributed, including this notice.
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists and 4729 Lankershim Blvd.
Affiliated Optical Electronic and North Hollywood, CA 91602-1864
Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE phone (818) 766-7151 * fax (818) 506-4805
ftp://ftp.netcom.com:/pub/mp/mpsc839 mailto://mps...@netcom.com