JOIN THE DISCUSSION! This week’s topic: Union Recognition Under Short Term Contracts

Union Recognition in an Industry with Precarious Short Term Contracts

One of the biggest obstacles to achieving union recognition for many workers in the film business is the rolling project based contract. As the majority of the main workforce for visual effects are not a full time employees, but on project based freelance contracts, it is normal to see VFX house grow and shrink with demand based needs. This usually means that Visual Effects personal change jobs far more frequently than other industries and thus union workers numbers shift between different visual effects companies. While initially it may seem more challenging to achieve union recognition with workers constantly being released and rehired; ultimately being in a union would actually be far more helpful in this situation than you might think. With union negotiations it would be more likely that contracts would be more consistent. For instance sick pay might be regulated for all union contracts no matter where the union employee works. That means company A can’t you make you wait a year to qualify for sick pay, while company B allows for sick pay after 3 months. The union could also negotiate for consecutive benefits, which means if company A doesn’t have work for 3 months and an employee goes to company B during the down time and then returns to company A as a rehire, that employee shouldn’t have to start from scratch to elect benefits and undergo another 3 month probationary period. So how would the union achieve this? Well obviously the end goal would be similar to other Hollywood Unions and have the majority of the work force unionised, so it wouldn’t matter where an employee works, their union contracts and benefits could go with them.  The most important thing is to stay in the union even if you change jobs. Even for non union shops, the union is beneficial to it’s members right away (see last week’s blog post). At union shops, even nonmembers receive better working conditions and pay than non union shops. Secondly is to open the discussion with other industry professionals about what improvements they’d like to see and how they could have a voice.  At the end of the day it’s the membership that will decide what progress is most beneficial and would lead them to have more fulfilling job satisfaction and working conditions. Thirdly is to be aware that BECTU has a good sized membership already that work at nearly every company in London. At the major studios and a lot of the smaller ones, members are not alone in their membership and it just might surprise you how many other members there are.  That said, this exactly why BECTU has to approach recognition at the right time to achieve the best results on their bids. Even if BECTU has the numbers, there has been precedent from other bids where-in companies unethically release enough workers through ending contracts in bid squashing attempts. As the majority of us are on short-term contracts this is something we must look out for and draw attention to when companies take this bullying tactic. Remember, we stand together. BECTU wants to make sure we achieve the best results for everyone, including working symbiotically with the VFX companies.Are you worried about union recognition on short term contracts? Want to have your say? Please come to our weekly lunch meet-up where we will be discussing this topic this week. Also please take our new poll below! We want to hear from you.

We will be meeting this Thursday March 3  1:00 – 2:00 pm  @ Kingley Ct, Carnaby St. 

Look for the green flag

Poll: Who Would You Like to Win the 2016 VFX Oscar?

[polldaddy poll=9322159]

Quick 'n Easy Unpaid Overtime Poll

[polldaddy poll=9318268]

JOIN THE DISCUSSION! This week’s topic: BAFTA WINNERS AND NOMINEES!

CONGRATULATIONS BAFTA WINNERS AND NOMINEES!

This past Sunday was the 69th British Academy Film Awards.The union members at BECTU would like to congratulate this year’s winners and runner ups. It was a brilliant year for British Visual Effects where many of our colleagues have had the pleasure to work on the nominated films.Special Congratulations to Industrial Light and Magic, who was the winner of this year’s “Best Special Visual Effects” with STAR WARS: The Force Awakens.The Force Awakens had 2,100 visual effects shots created with more  than 1,000 artists around the world. It has grossed over $2 Billion worldwide and now is the third highest grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation.)This week we would like you to join us to have a chat about the latest BAFTA nominations and winner and what you especially liked from a visual effects standpoint. We also hope to have a fair few of those who contributed to these films to discuss what it was like from an inside perspective.

Come and join the discussion!

We will be meeting this Thursday 17 February  1:00 – 2:00 pm  @ Kingley Ct, Carnaby St. 

Look for the green flag

What Kind of Contract Do You Have?

An open letter to all staff at MPC

Dear MPC Employee,We are sure that you've heard rumblings about a bid by BECTU to achieve Trade Union Recognition at MPC. We thought that it was time for the union to write to you directly - addressing some of the concerns that have been raised with us over recent weeks.We initially asked for union recognition in the Compositing and Roto-Prep departments of MPC because most of the staff in those departments asked us to do so.Most of the staff in those departments (65% on the day that we lodged our request) were already BECTU members. Your colleagues did this because they want a voice in the industry that they work in. So many of you are on short-term contracts, and because of this, our members told us that they were frightened to raise their concerns because they feared being labelled as a trouble-maker.We understand that, and we will not be disclosing the names of our individual members to employers.Having a formal role for BECTU at MPC would end that worry anyway, and that's why your colleagues requested it. They have told us that they don't like the assumption that they will work long, arbitrary hours of overtime. They don't like getting emails - at 9pm - berating them for not being at their desks.They don't like the culture of short-term contracts and short notice periods. They don't like the lack of structure in their careers with the company. In other sectors of the film industry, there are training paths and established career structures, and our members have a perception that their employers don't care about that.Since we lodged our first 'recognition' letter, our membership at MPC has grown considerably. Our total London VFX membership is four times bigger than it was in Summer 2015, and we are now thinking of broadening our campaign to other departments. But before we can do this, we need you to join the union.We would like to deal with one important issue that has been raised by MPC Staff.Every single bit of union activity will be 100% directed by BECTU members. Our work will not be driven by BECTU Officials or the wider union. We are a very democratic union.For a long time, BECTU has been trying to have a serious conversation with VFX employers about the long-hours situation. We have found it almost impossible to get the employers to engage with us properly, and because of this, BECTU's members asked us to mount a 'Paid Overtime' campaign.

We have to run campaigns like that when we can't have a serious dialogue with employers. We would much rather sit down and negotiate ways that long hours can be limited and planned-for.To be clear, we have no intention of asking for, or agreeing to, anything that will damage basic rates of pay. Other VFX employers manage this situation in better ways and we want serious conversations with MPC about how we can do this here. Paid overtime is only the solution if employers won't be sensible and negotiate properly on this issue. Just to underline...

• 100% of our policy positions with MPC will be decided, democratically, by BECTU members working for the company
•  100% of our negotiations will be directed by BECTU members working for the company

We will not argue for anything without agreeing it with our members first. Our members love their work and they want their company to succeed. We are not planning to do anything that will hurt MPC. We are attempting to make MPC do something that it plainly doesn't want to do: Negotiate with its staff about the working conditions that they are employed under.Our members have reported that, since union activity started, that some working conditions have improved slightly, and one or two perks have started appearing in your inboxes. The 9pm emails have stopped.... for now.We don't want to lose these gainsWe hope that you will consider joining BECTU. We enclose a membership form that offers a discounted joining rate if we get your form back (in the enclosed FREEPOST envelope) before February 21st 2016.In the meantime, please keep an eye on http://vfxforum.org - the VFX Union website - you will find details of our regular lunchtime meetups, and hear what other London VFX workers have to say about their working conditions.We think that you deserve a voice.With best wishesBECTU London VFX BranchDownload PDF here: An open letter to all staff at MPC

 Want to find out more? Come to our Thursday VFX LunchMeet every week at Kingley Court, Carnaby Street from 1:00-2:00 (look for the Green Flag!) 

JOIN THE DISCUSSION!

What if I don't work much VFX overtime?

Not everyone has the same issues or problems while working in visual effects. There has been a lot of discussion on the topic of overtime, but what if you don't work a lot of overtime? What can the union do for you, you might ask. While we have answered this topic on our FAQ page, there are still many things that union can do for you.

• When you join, you get access to lawyers and the experience of BECTU. They can help answer contract questions and generally advise you in all areas of UK working laws and employee rights.
• If you have issues at work, BECTU can come and help represent you with your employer as your advocate.
• You'll also be part of a growing network of UK colleagues who come together to discuss issues and talk about related VFX topics.
• The union could negotiate to ensure our members receive credits on films, as other unions have organized for their members.
• Furthermore there are a lot other benefits that collective bargaining can achieve beyond OT issues including better sick/holiday/flex-time benefits and redundancy packages in case of layoffs or better contractual notice (a topic we have recently posted about.) and lots of other changes that can improve your work conditions and strengthen the industry as a whole.
• There are even some great discounts and offers that you as a member receive, including an Apple Store discount. See BECTU's website for details.

This is still something you can contribute on. Please come to our weekly lunch and discuss with your vfx colleagues what you'd like to see come out of an agreement between workers and visual effects companies. You are the union - get involved! Also, please Take our latest poll on contracts!

LOCATION CHANGE:

We will be meeting this Thursday 11 February  1:00 – 2:00 pm  @ Kingley Ct, Carnaby St. 

Look for the green flag

What Kind of Contract Do You Have?

From our FAQ Page:

What if I don't work much VFX overtime?

Then you’re very lucky! However, remember that this is issue is not just about you – it’s about your friends and colleagues too.How many of them have you seen regularly working late without pay? How often do you see them queueing up for the company dinner in your office each evening, especially around a deadline? Do you feel comfortable about that? Try asking some of them about the comments from the MPC Variety article or the VFX overtime survey – how many of them are genuinely happy about working conditions in the VFX industry right now?You don’t need to be working excessive VFX overtime yourself to agree with us that the industry needs to change.

See also:

• http://effectscorner.blogspot.ca/2015/03/visual-effects-and-overtime.html
• http://variety.com/2014/film/news/moving-picture-co-finds-valuing-artists-is-the-best-effect-1201346561/

Discounted Union Membership for a limited time only!

   Normally, your first years membership in the union is £10 per month but for a limited time, we have a special deal: Any new members working in VFX who join the union this week (before the end of the day on Sunday 14th Feb) will be able to join for a rate of £7.50 per month for the first year of membership! That's an annual savings of £30!You can do this online as long as you...

• put "VFX Branch" as the answer to the question "Branch - if known"
• tick "Freelance" as your employment status*
• on stage 5a of the online application, you use this Promo Code: PBSSFY

* If you're not freelance, it's OK. BECTU will confirm your employment details once the application has been received.  If you prefer to fill in a form and post it, you can click the image below to download a form to print out.  

JOIN THE DISCUSSION! This week’s topic: Contracts

In December, UK CEO Sarah Mackey stated that according to the Creative Skillset 2014 Workforce Survey '91% of the UK VFX workforce have a permanent contract'. However, our experience has been that this simply is not true for the vast majority of UK VFX workers.We took a closer look at the survey, and found that 38% of those permanent employees were classified as “senior/managers or supervisors,” and roughly a quarter (26%) considered themselves “professionals/executives.” The rest were supporting roles to VFX artists.The survey had 332 responses -  about 6% of the estimated 5300 UK VFX workers. We would respectfully suggest that 6% of the workforce isn’t a large enough sample to accurately represent the true state of the UK VFX industry.We believe that majority of VFX workers are on project based contracts, and we know how much stress and worry can come around with looming end dates every few months. Last week at our VFX lunch, we talked about contractual notice and we’d like to continue the discussion surrounding contracts.Is this an issue for you? Are you on a contract? Take our poll! Want to give your input on solutions? Please come to our weekly lunch meet-up where we will be discussing this topic this week. Come and join the discussion!

We will be meeting this Thursday 2 February  1:00 – 2:00 pm  @ The Plaza, Oxford Street

Look for the green flag

What Kind of Contract Do You Have?

JOIN THE DISCUSSION! This week's topic: Contractual Notice

After overtime, one of the biggest gripes about working in VFX is contractual notice. Many companies have a majority of PAYE (Pay As You Earn) workers on rolling contracts that can be anywhere from 1 week to 1 year.With projects schedules often changing last minute, some workers receive extension notices inside of two-weeks from their final “end date.” A handful have even been given notice the same week, asking them for extensions or confirming their termination date. This makes it extremely hard to line up future jobs or plan accordingly. Especially if you enjoy working for the company and would like to stay on.With this kind of insecurity, we think that it’s hard to plan for the future and would like to work with Visual Effects Companies to change this.  While some schedule changes can be out of VFX companies hands, we do believe that there is some room for improvement and better dialogue so workers can prepare for any sudden changes in contract, with-in a fair working notice period.Has this happened to you? Want to give your input on solutions to the problem? Please come to our weekly lunch meet-up where we will be discussing this topic this week. Come and join the discussion!  

We will be meeting this Thursday 28th January  1:00 – 2:00 pm  @ The Plaza, Oxford Street

Look for the green flag

Feedback on the union from someone who's worked in vfx

Please enjoy this guest blogpost from Jason Mayer, an executive board member for The Animation Guild, Local 839 in Los Angeles and an fx artist working at DreamWorks Animation.

What? I Got a Job!

I began my film VFX career in my mid 20's. I had a BFA and an MFA and a six figure student loan. On my first feature film credit, I worked about 65 to 90 hours a week with an hourly salary only slightly greater than what I had been making at Best Buy. LA rents were double and I had to live on couches for a few months before settling into a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 people. I had no medical or dental insurance, 0 sick days, 0 vacation days, and 0 retirement contributions. That first feature film grossed over half a billion and won the BAFTA for VFX.

Going Union.

After almost 2 years, I left VFX behind and moved to an animation studio covered by IATSE's Local 839 Union. I was so ill prepared for the increased quality of life standards, I negotiated to receive the union minimum for my job classification. It was still a huge salary increase, so I was happy. I will admit being highly skeptical of being forced to join a union for a job, the initiation fees were a significant amount of money to me at the time.I turned 30, got married, began a family, and bought a house. Health insurance and paid time off became much more important to me and so the union began to return value. I also began to notice other protections, especially with overtime that would help curb against late changing production schedule decisions. For instance, if you are asked to come in on a 6th day(Saturday) they would have to pay you for a minimum of 4 hours, so no being expected to stop by and monitor weekend renders. Also you were limited to 14 actual hours from starting work in a day before getting doubletime pay, so no weird hours with long unpaid midday breaks. Doubletime kicked in sooner on the 6th and 7th days.As I approached 40, planning for the future became more important, retirement, kids college, investments. I was pleasantly surprised when I began digging into the pension and retirement planning aspects of the union benefits. After 5 years, I had vested in a monthly retirement benefit for myself with survivorship of my spouse. There was also a 2nd pension which was approaching a six figure lump sum for my 11 years of participation in the union. I still look forward to qualifying for lifetime secondary health care for me and my wife at 15 years, and early retirement without penalty on my monthly benefit. These are all benefits fully funded by studio contributions with nothing out of my pocket as a result of the union agreements.

But Won't The Studios Hate Me?

The Union is not an adversarial entity to a studio. There is some friction at times, but there is also a clear grievance and arbitration route for those frictions. The friction is also very infrequent, most of the time the union and studio just coexist. Ultimately they are working towards related goals, the studio wants the most productivity out of their employees to maximize profits and the union wants its members to be happy. Employees work best and are most focused when they know they have stability, good health care and a future. Working at their best insures higher productivity and better morale which makes it easier to recruit top talent. More top talent leads to even more productivity and potentially better results. All these things help the bottom line. There are many very successful non-union companies that take this worker happiness philosophy in to account with their compensation packages like Facebook, Netflix or Google to name a few. A union forces the quality of life increases to employees which can help increase happiness and productivity.

But Your Union is Only Animation.

Local 839 has about 1/4 to 1/3 of it's membership in roles that directly overlap with VFX jobs, compositing, character animation, cloth/hair, fx, modeling, texture painting, lighting, etc. Having experienced the increase in quality of life a union brings, it can be a tough sell for those artists and technicians to return or move to a non-union VFX job. Having a global union community would help companies recruit for talent that they wouldn't normally have access to. I would personally enjoy returning to do some live action fx work, but even if I were paid far more than my current salary, the union benefits, and quality of life would make it an almost unworkable option.

So If You Only Want to Read One Part Of This.

The Animation Guild (local 839) has been around for over 50 years and has had high and low points. I think we are currently in a high point, membership is still growing to an all time high and feature and television animation production in LA is still strong despite global competition and attempts at outsourcing. The problem an established organization like this faces in the good times is apathy of its membership. The protections the union provides helps its members the most through the bad times, but unless you have the good times to give you leverage and a vitalized membership, you can't negotiate for those protections. We already have a contract in place, creating a new one is going to be challenging for you. It will not just form on its own. A union is like any organization, it can only be as strong as its members. I would urge you to take your chance now while you have momentum and there are lots of jobs currently available in your area. If the industry takes a downturn, unionizing will be near impossible to do until the industry comes back up. Keep in mind, these productions can not be made without you. The artistry and technical prowess you contribute is a valuable resource and there are not any reasons you shouldn't have a happy and healthy life pursuing it.

Good Luck!

Jason Mayer

BIG LONDON VFX MEETING

WED 13 JAN

It’s selling out! Register to ensure your place (free) bit.ly/unionise 

MPC argument against unionisation no. 5

MPC says: 'A union could mean that just 40% of the workers can decide the fate of everyone else'

This is either a misunderstanding of how union recognition works, or is a deliberate attempt to put workers off of unionisation by spreading misinformation about it. Don’t just take our word for it, feel free to check up on any of these facts yourself (this page by the UK government confirms it, as does the UK government’s full PDF guide to recognition). Let’s take a simplified look at how membership numbers affect a recognition bid.Once a recognition bid has started, checks are made at several points throughout the process to make sure that the union still has enough support for the bid to continue. If at any point the numbers aren’t high enough, then the bid ends immediately and recognition is refused. The required membership level gets higher with each check as the bid develops:

1. For a bid to start, the union only needs 10% of the chosen department to be members.
   Note: 10% is only a minimum. A recognition bid requires a union to commit significant time and resources, and are therefore not started lightly. It would be highly foolish for a union to start a bid with a membership level as low as 10%, and in practice most unions – including BECTU – will insist on a much higher and fairer membership level before they’ll even consider launching a recognition bid.
2. Halfway through the recognition process, in order for the bid to proceed to the CAC, the union needs to show that a majority of workers in the chosen department “would be likely to favour union recognition”. For it to be able to do this, the union will either need at least 40% of the department to be members, or it’ll need some other demonstration of support (like a petition signed by the majority of the department for example).
3. In the final stages of a bid, one last membership check is made. If the union’s membership includes over 50% of the chosen department, then recognition is granted immediately. Otherwise, if the union has 40%-50% of the chosen department, then a ballot is held – and recognition is only granted if over 50% of those who vote in the ballot are in favour of recognition. The vote is ruled to be invalid if less than 40% of the department as a whole took part. This is a higher standard than UK elections, where in 2015 the conservatives won a majority with 37% of the vote , and where no required minimum turnout rule exists at all (in 1998 turnout in one local election was just 28.8%).

So as you can see, this worry has no basis. Recognition bids are hard – deliberately so. It would be very, very difficult for a bid to be successful if only 40% of the department supported it. The only way this could happen is if either (1) the company chose to immediately grant voluntary recognition in step 1 without checking via ACAS that the union had enough support, or (2) if most of those in the department against recognition for some reason decided not to vote.If a VFX company is genuinely concerned about “40% of the workers deciding the fate of everyone else”, then we would invite them to talk to BECTU. BECTU would be happy to correct any misconceptions they might have about recognition. BECTU can also give the company a rough anonymised idea of membership level in initial talks via a third party such ACAS to assure them that the membership level is high enough. From the conversations we’ve had with VFX workers and the feedback we’ve had so far, we can safely predict that it is a lot more than “just 40%” of our departments that want to see a positive change in the VFX industry!…- See more at: http://vfxforum.org/faq/#what_arguments_has_mpc_given_against_unionisation_so_far

MPC argument against unionisation no. 4

MPC says: 'For things to get fairer for everyone, seniors, leads and supes will have to accept a pay cut.'

Again, not true – this is an attempt to turn different workers against each other. Our response to this is exactly the same as the response that we gave for “pay-banding” and “the pit is not bottomless”:

• Members get to vote on any proposed agreement that changes how pay or other key parts of our working conditions are run. If enough members are unhappy with a proposed agreement, then it will be rejected and it simply won’t come into force. If a new agreement was voted in by members, then it would be because a majority were unhappy with the old agreement, and a new agreement was therefore necessary anyway. No agreement will come into force without the members’ approval.
• It’s not in a union’s interest to push a company out of business or to make it less efficient than competitors – workers would lose jobs, and the union will lose members. Remember that unions make their workforces more efficient, not less`.

It’s impossible to say with any certainty what exact terms will come out of negotiations between BECTU and a VFX company if a recognition bid is successful. The question that workers at MPC should be asking themselves right now is not “What will the results be for me financially?”, but rather “Are we being treated fairly by our employers right now, and if not, would we like a union to work on our behalf to try to improve the situation?”- See more at: http://vfxforum.org/faq/#what_arguments_has_mpc_given_against_unionisation_so_far 

 BIG LONDON VFX MEETING

WED 13 JAN

It’s selling out! Register to ensure your place (free) bit.ly/unionise

MPC argument against unionisation no. 3

MPC says: 'If a union is recognised, then it's no longer possible for us to reward good workers with pay increases'

Again, not true. Just because a union has been recognised, it doesn’t mean that pay agreements with the workers suddenly magically change. The relationship between the workers, a recognised union and a company normally works like this:

1. The members at a company are unhappy. They speak to their elected union rep, and it becomes clear that a majority of them want to see some kind of change in their working conditions (like paid overtime for example).
2. The union rep brings this issue to the union’s attention, and asks the union to begin negotiations with the company about it.
3. The union negotiates with management at the company on behalf of its members, and tries to come up with a proposed agreement that gives the workers what they are asking for. If this isn’t possible, then the union will try to find an alternate proposed agreement that at least goes part-way.
4. If a proposed agreement was found, then the union presents this proposed agreement to their members, and the members vote on it. If enough members are in favour of it, then the agreement comes into force. If the members reject it or if no proposed agreement was reached, then the members decide what to do next – whether to ask BECTU to go for a different deal, or whether to give up on their demands, or whether to consider industrial action of some sort to put pressure the company (such as refusing to work excessive overtime).

So just because a department chose to unionise through BECTU, it doesn’t mean that pay banding would automatically have to come into effect. It would only come in if the members wanted it, an agreement was reached, and a majority of those members voted for it. If a department feels that they are already fairly rewarded for good work and that the system isn’t being abused, then they’d have no reason to ask for and vote in favour of a different pay structure that gets rid of it.Even if workers did choose to vote for pay banding or rate-cards at some point in the future, pay banding is more commonly implemented as a minimum anyway, i.e. “as a lead compositor, you should be paid at least £XXX per hour”. There’s no reason that a rate-card or pay-banding system should stop a company from paying talented individuals more than the minimum rate. If you don’t believe us, then have a look at a genuine BECTU rate card (PDF) for the camera branch, and see for yourself.Finally, remember that any future decision we make over pay-banding/rate cards is completely separate from the question of whether we should unionise or not. The question is not “What will the results be for me financially?”, but rather “Are we being treated fairly by our employers right now, and if not, would we like a union to work on our behalf to try to improve the situation?”- See more at: http://vfxforum.org/faq/#what_arguments_has_mpc_given_against_unionisation_so_far

 BIG LONDON VFX MEETING WED 13 JANIt’s selling out! Register to ensure your place (free) bit.ly/unionise 

MPC argument against unionisation no. 2

MPC says: 'If one department unionises, then we'll have to cut everyone else's pay by 20% to pay for it'

It’s hard to take this excuse as anything other than blackmail, and an attempt to turn VFX workers against each other.As we’ve discussed elsewhere, when a union is recognised it doesn’t somehow mean that every worker instantly gets suddenly becomes more expensive, or that everyone instantly gets paid overtime. When a union is first recognised, nothing changes at all beyond the fact that the company is now required to talk to the union, and must give access to the information they need to be able to do their job (profit margins, pay scales, employee lists, etc). If MPC chose to cut everyone else’s pay as a bizarre form of “collective punishment”, then there would be absolutely no reason for them to do this other than greed – they would be using the union as a convenient excuse to increase profits by reducing wages. If this came to pass and these other departments felt unhappy at being punished like this, then BECTU would welcome them with open arms, and would be happy to start fighting for their rights too.Remember, unionisation is a basic legal right that almost everyone in the UK has – why should MPC punish its workers simply for exercising their rights? What if instead of putting all this time and effort into fighting unionisation, MPC put the same time and effort into collaborating with the union to end worker exploitation and excessive overtime instead?- See more at: http://vfxforum.org/faq/#what_arguments_has_mpc_given_against_unionisation_so_far

 BIG LONDON VFX MEETINGWED 13 JANIt’s selling out! Register to ensure your place (free) bit.ly/unionise

MPC argument against unionisation no. 1

MPC says: 'The pot is not bottomless - if VFX workers want paid overtime/sick pay/job security/etc, then something's got to give'

Naturally – this is not an unreasonable position for a company to take. BECTU is being guided by its members, and we recognise that the VFX industry is a financially challenging environment, and that the UK VFX companies don’t have endless resources. If we unionise, then of course it doesn’t mean that every single VFX worker’s wishes will somehow instantly be granted. Equally though, just because the VFX companies have limited money, it doesn’t mean that it’s somehow completely impossible for them to improve how they treat their workers. Nor does it mean that a recognised union would somehow instantly put the VFX companies out of business.Let’s be completely clear: we’re not unionising because we’re trying to squeeze more money out of the VFX companies. We’re not unionising because we want to pick a fight. We’re not unionising because of some unrealistic ideology either. We’re unionising because of very serious and very practical concerns about how people are being treated. We feel that the way that the VFX industry is treating its people is not right, is not sustainable, and needs to change if the UK VFX industry is to keep the talent it needs to survive. Having coordinators block exits to prevent workers from leaving on time is not a reasonable way for MPC to treat its workers – ever.If the union’s members started pushing for something unreasonable (like making all their salaries 100x larger), then the union can look at the company’s books and will tell its members that this is completely unrealistic, before suggesting a more reasonable goal. If a VFX company ends up shrinking or going out of business because of a union, then that hurts the union too, because it loses members and membership fees. No one wants to see unionisation hurt the VFX industry, especially not BECTU.A union also doesn’t arbitrarily decide on its own how much workers get paid – the union negotiates with the company and they come to a common agreement. If a VFX company could convincingly show that it couldn’t afford to pay for things like overtime, then BECTU would listen and would respect that. However, in the last 3 years of negotiations with BECTU, none of the VFX companies have yet made such a case. We think that a well-rested and fairly treated workforce would be significantly more efficient than a workforce that’s tired, overworked and demoralised – and this is something that should be taken into account before blindly suggesting that ideas such as paid-overtime simply aren’t affordable.Even if a VFX company couldn’t afford to pay for everything its members were asking for, there are still other ways of tackling the issues that we’ve been raising. It might involve making changes to bidding and how time is estimated, for example. It might involve developing a stricter company policy on worker exploitation, and punishing productions or supervisors that breach these rules. It might involve changing development priorities, so that the company focuses on improvements to remove inefficient workflows. It might involve negotiating different terms with the Hollywood studios, so that the financial health of the VFX industry can improve. A union can help with all of these these things, as it has helped in other parts of the film industry.Finally, we would caution any company that makes this excuse. VFX workers are a smart bunch, and are quite capable of doing research using publicly available resources to see through bad excuses. Anyone can search the UK Companies House website to see that MPC made £11.6 million in profit in 2014, for example (PDF, page 8). Anyone can find articles proclaiming that 2015 was a record financial year for the film industry as a whole, with total box office profits in excess of $11 billion worldwide. If the UK VFX companies truly cannot afford to treat their people reasonably despite the fact that they’re part of the most profitable movies in the film industry, then maybe it’s time for them to ask themselves why and to take steps to improve the situation.- See more at: http://vfxforum.org/faq/#what_arguments_has_mpc_given_against_unionisation_so_far

 BIG LONDON VFX MEETING WED 13 JANIt’s selling out! Register to ensure your place (free) bit.ly/unionise

First VFX Lunch Meet of 2016!

Hope you've all had some wonderful holiday fun and relaxation. We here at the VFX Forum can proudly announce that the Thursday VFX Lunch Meet is back on after our little break for seasonal festivities. Please come and join us - so much to catch up on!Thursday 7th January1:00 - 2:00 pm@ The Plaza, Oxford StreetThere are some really exciting things happening soon! Come find out more about the VFX Union and hear all about the big meeting to unionise VFX London for 2016 coming up on Wednesday the 13th. Don't miss out!

2016 is going to be an amazing year!

Look for the green flag!

New Year, New VFX Industry!

What a year! 2015 saw the comp department at MPC here in London unionise and 2016 promises many more exciting developments for the VFX Union - starting with the big meeting next Wednesday the 13th of January!

Unionise VFX London 2016!BECTU is unionising the UK VFX industry. We aim to tackle the scandal of unpaid overtime and tortuous long hours in the VFX Sector.Come along and hear what's happening and how you can be part of this campaign.

WHEN

Wednesday, 13 January 2016 from 19:00 to 21:00 (GMT) 

WHERE

Regent Hall - 275 Oxford Street London W1C 2DJ GB

It's a free event and if you work in VFX in London, then this is an essential event for you and your colleagues. Click on this link to register - see you there! You know how you've been waiting for something to happen? Well... something's happening! 

Thursday VFX Lunch Meet today!

The comp department at MPC has unionised and this is an historic moment for the visual effects industry!

This is not about one department in one company. We want all the departments at MPC to join comp and unionise. We want all of the vfx workers at all of the facilities in London to join with us.

Now is the time for action! Someone isn’t going to do this for you. We all need to make it happen together! Join the union now!

A great place to start is our weekly meet up every Thursday lunchtime.

Thursday VFX Lunch Meet

in the food court at The Plaza, Oxford Street

from 1:00-2:00pm

Look for the green flag!

Come along to talk about what’s happening with unionisation at MPC, all the issues we want to address and how you can get involved. Last week we had over 100 people show up and it was truly amazing! The energy and enthusiasm in London for this is off the charts! Everybody who works in Visual Effects in London is up for this. All you have to do is join the union and start making it happen now!

What if I don't work much VFX overtime?

Then you’re very lucky! However, remember that this is issue is not just about you – it’s about your friends and colleagues too.How many of them have you seen regularly working late without pay? How often do you see them queueing up for the company dinner in your office each evening, especially around a deadline? Do you feel comfortable about that? Try asking some of them about the comments from the MPC Variety article or the VFX overtime survey – how many of them are genuinely happy about working conditions in the VFX industry right now?You don’t need to be working excessive VFX overtime yourself to agree with us that the industry needs to change.

See also:

• http://effectscorner.blogspot.ca/2015/03/visual-effects-and-overtime.html
• http://variety.com/2014/film/news/moving-picture-co-finds-valuing-artists-is-the-best-effect-1201346561/

From the vfxforum.org Frequently Asked Questions

New game. New rules.

Welcome to the Brave New World of Visual Effects! The compositing department at MPC has unionised and the global response has been amazing! The Hollywood Reporter covered the story and now fxguide has a post up on their website as well. Twitter has gone bananas on the subject and Reddit is doing that thing that Reddit does!But this is not just about the comp department at MPC. This is about ALL the departments at MPC. This is about ALL the Visual Effects facilities in London. This is about the whole of the Visual Effects Industry around the world!So many people in vfx tell me that they'd like to have a union, but they're waiting for something to happen. Well, guess what? Something's happening!You know that train you've been waiting for? It's pulling out of the station right now! Jump on board!To all VFX Union members: you need to start talking to your coworkers around you and get them to join and you need to get started now! No one else is going to do this for us. Stop sitting around waiting for someone to do something. YOU need to do something! We ALL need to take action now to make this happen! How do members get non members at work to join the vfx union?Simple. Stop and chat with your fellow vfx workers. Talk with them one on one.Ask them if they've heard about the union. Ask them if they've thought about joining. Most of your coworkers will say yes to both of those questions. They might even tell you they're already a member! Result! Now you've got someone to help recruit more members!It's all about talking and connecting with people. It's so easy to get a bit isolated in this industry and lost in our own little worlds, but I've found almost everyone will really open up when the subject of the vfx union is raised. It's something people in vfx like talking about.Engage with them on the subject. Tell them about vfxforum.org and our terrific set of FAQ's where they'll find an answer to almost any question they can think of. Tell them your opinions on the industry and unionisation but more importantly, listen to theirs. You will almost always find that they agree to join in that first conversation, but don't stop there - this is just the beginning of the process!Go back to them the next day and ask them if they've signed up. Most likely they didn't but don't despair and don't give up. Answer any questions they might have or just pick up the chat where you left off yesterday. Do it again the next day. Repeat these visits until they tell you they have signed up. Usually no fewer than 3-4 return chats in my experience. Often many more. Seriously... Don't give up.Don't get frustrated. Everybody WANTS to join, but there is a journey from wanting to join to actually joining that you need to guide them on. Fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) are very real in our industry and for many, it is not a trivial thing to break away from it. Short term contracts, demands for overtime, constantly moving from one facility to the next - even moving countries to chase the work has left most of us feeling vulnerable and insecure about our livelihood. Everybody has bills, families, mortgages to worry about and nobody want to put that at risk. It shouldn't be, but joining the union can be a scary prospect for many of us. For people in our industry, the FUD is a very, very real thing. Everybody who hesitates joining will give may different reasons, but it all boils down to FUD. The good news is, virtually everyone agrees with the idea of a union and nobody wants FUD to rule their lives. Perseverance. That's what it takes. They won't come to you, so you must go to them and in time, they will eventually sign up. They always do because it's what they want. They told you that in your first conversation with them!Good luck everyone!