The union announced on Tuesday that VFX workers at Apple Studios unanimously voted to unionize with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) after a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election.
All twelve workers, who hold critical positions across six Apple Studios LLC shows, cast their ballots in favor of unionizing.
The organizing Apple VFX unit such as Senior VFX Coordinators, VFX Coordinators, VFX Assistant Coordinators, VFX Production Assistants, VFX Witness Camera Operators, VFX Production Artists (In-House Compositors, Virtual Art Directors), VFX On-Set Supervisors, VFX Associate Production Managers, VFX On-Set Production Supervisors/Managers, Lead VFX, Data Wranglers, VFX Data Wranglers, and VFX Jr. Data Wranglers.
The momentum of the VFX union campaign joins with including unionization efforts by Avatar VFX artists, Marvel / Disney VFX , and DNEG workers in British Columbia and Montreal. This trend represent on increasing eager for union representation within the Visual effects industry.
But Apple challenged the joining of VFX Production Supervisors/Managers, who were added in the bargaining unit IATSE initially filed the election for in earlier June.
The next step for Apple’s VFX unit will start negotiating a first contract with Apple in good faith. please visit vfxunion.org.
“I couldn’t be more thankful to our organizers for bringing yet another victory to VFX workers,” Apple Studios VFX production manager Nick DeGrazia said in a statement. “I hope that we can continue this wave across the entire industry so we can share the benefits, rights and respect we deserve.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Iatse
