A union can provide benefits in two parts: benefits at the Local level as well as benefits through a collective agreement.

Collective agreement benefits are tailored to each unionized workplace and the base things achievable with a collective agreement are:

Overtime Protection: Overtime pay can be mandated and regulated, leading to higher wages and/or more manageable working hours for VFX workers.

Wage Minimums: Wage minimums set a floor that no studio can go beneath, ensuring that workers are not underpaid, and are paid more consistently across the board.

Grievances and Procedures: Workers are not on their own when filing a complaint against their employers. They have access to union advocates and lawyers who will be on their side and walk them through grievances.

Bonded Studios/Protection from Bankruptcy: A Union can ensure that studios prove they have enough budgeted in salary to pay their employees for the work they have done in the case of bankruptcy. Note that these types of arrangements are not as common in animation as they are in film and TV. However, the union has other tools at its disposal to secure payment of wages if an employer goes out of business.

COLA: Cost of Living Adjustment, gradually increasing wages incrementally to match inflation.

A seat at the bargaining table: this collective agreement will also address specific issues that were brought up during the negotiation process. Anything can be brought to the table in a safe way and this gives workers the power to directly ask their employer for ways to address studio specific issues.

Alongside the collective agreement benefits, as a union member you are also entitled to Local level benefits. These benefits include:

Access to free labour lawyers: If members need legal representation, the union has your back.

Funding for Professional Development: Unions often provide professional development opportunities in various ways such funding for certain courses, LinkedIn learning courses, and more depending on the needs of the workers in the union.

Stronger Extended Health Benefits and Continuous Coverage: A union made up of many VFX workers from many studios will have far more buying power, allowing us to purchase better health plans that tie with your union membership and not your employer.

Retirement Plans: A union can provide retirement plans into which employers and/or artists contribute so they don’t have to retire in poverty.

Various committees for equity seeking groups to feel safe and seen: As a member you have the capability to create committees to suit the needs of the membership. For example, if there are many international workers you could create a DEI committee (diversity, equity, inclusion) to not only connect workers together but also to create a strong sense of community.

Yes, you can still choose to maintain your union membership even if you move to a non-unionized studio. You can do this by continuing to pay your flat fee membership dues which can be paid annually all at once or paid every quarter (every 3 months). By maintaining your membership, you will still have access to any Local level benefits that your Local decides to make (see the question above for more information on some examples of Local level benefits).

Yes, there will be union dues. By paying union dues, members will receive access to free labour lawyers, to benefits provided by their union, and most importantly the right to union representation at the workplace. In all Canadian Locals, there are two types of dues a flat fee payment for your membership paid every quarter as well as a percentage automatically deducted from each of your gross pay cheques if you are at a unionized studio.

At the time of writing this FAQ, Local 402 and 401 have no VFX workers therefore no set union dues have been finalized. Once VFX workers join and elect an executive board amongst themselves, they will be able to decide on a dues structure and amount that suits them best. All dues are tax deductible in Canada, so members receive a portion of their money back and members have full freedom to express where their dues are being allocated.

Once your workplace successfully unionizes, you will start the next phase which is creating your collective agreement. A collective agreement is a contract between the union and the employer which helps address the issues that workers are facing at their workplace. Experienced IATSE representatives will assist workers in any newly organized workplace to negotiate a first union contract. That process will include a series of meetings with the workers to identify issues or wants they would like at the workplace. Anything can be brought up at the negotiation table in a safe environment. Workers who interested in participating in the contract negotiation process are encouraged to join a committee called a “bargaining committee”.

When the union’s bargaining committee and the employer reach a tentative final agreement draft, this will be presented to all the workers at the studio regardless of whether they were an active participant in the negotiations. This is so workers understand exactly what benefits they could be receiving with this new collective agreement. The agreement is then put to a vote and if the vote fails, the bargaining committee and the employer will go back to the negotiation table to reopen bargaining conversations.

The line is drawn at people who are considered “management” by the provincial labour laws. Management are people who have the direct power to hire or fire others.

A strike decision is made by the workers that are in the union. For example, if workers in Local 402 launched a strike vote to decide whether their members wanted to strike and it passes, it does not mean that Local 401 workers will have to strike alongside them. Each Local decides on their own whether they would strike or not. On top of this, there is a law in Canada that is a “no lock out no strike” meaning workers cannot choose to suddenly walk out on their jobs in the middle of a collective agreement term.

Signing union support cards marks the next legal step to forming a union in a workplace. The percentage needed to sign a support card at a workplace varies from province to province.

British Columbia: 55%+1 of support cards need to be signed to automatically form a union.

Ontario: 40%+1 of support cards need to be signed in order to trigger the next step which is a vote. After the vote succeeds, a union is successfully formed.

Quebec: 50%+1 of support cards need to be signed to automatically form a union. In Quebec, you need to pay $2CAD to the Quebec Labour Board as well as signing your card.

Anyone can sign a support card. The more the merrier, in fact! Current employees, employees on temporary layoff, freelancers, employees on work visas or applying for PR, they are all eligible to sign.

No, supporting a union does not affect your work visa or permanent residency status.

Locals can establish rules for freelancers to join. There are currently no rules in place for Local 401 or 402 because there has not been an executive board elected yet since no VFX workers are in the Local. For example, in the Canadian Animation Guild Local 938, freelancers can join through filling out an application and there are no qualification requirements.

Yes and no. You cannot pull your coworkers aside during work to give a 15-minute lecture on union benefits or answer questions. The expectation when you’re at work is you’re being paid to do your job so lecturing about unions can be viewed as you refusing to do your job. Brief and natural conversations can still happen at the coffee machine in the mornings, at lunchtime when you’re out with your friends at work, and of course you can text people while you’re scrolling through your phone on the toilet.

It is illegal for employers to threaten peoples’ jobs, fire people, and even ask people whether they have signed a union support card. The employer cannot punish their workers for supporting a union and if they do so, you must report it to IATSE immediately because it will be considered an Unfair Labour Practice (a ULP). Workers who are wanting to form unions are constitutionally one of the most protected workers in Canada.

Employers can try to convince workers to not support a union by:

*Telling their workers this will ruin the good and familial relationship they have with management.

*Making the union seem like a third-party business that is coming into the workplace.

*Saying unions will cost money to join but leaving out the part of unions being tax deductible.

*Giving in suddenly to salary negotiations, having more parties or socials, and other things that make the workers feel like they already have it good at the workplace. Even if that feeling is only temporary in a union campaign.