Vancouver councillor calls for more VFX unionisation
We reported last month on IATSE’s organizing campaign within the VFX industry. Now a Vancouver city councillor has joined in the call for better unionisation of local visual effects artists.
The city is home to around 30 digital effects firms, including branches of Pixar, Digital Domain, Prime Focus and MPC, many drawn by favourable local tax conditions.
As one anonymous artist reported in Geoff Meggs’ blog posting comments: “I do good work, I work long hours. I need dental and health benefits. If I work in a warehouse, I get benefits. Why not as a VFX artist?”
According to Meggs: “Far from hurting the industry, stable wages and benefits should improve the productivity and quality of growing [local] VFX firms.”
“Vancouver remains a Hollywood favourite because of the quality of its crews, its labour stability and its sophisticated studio infrastructure, [IATSE’s Dusty] Kelly notes, all operated by unionized workers. It’s time for the VFX sector to get aligned with that reality.”