Marvel VFX workers want to unionize

Marvel Studios has more than fifty visual effect employees who are interested in unionizing. Vulture reported that on Monday the group requested the National Labor Relations Board schedule an election as early as August 21, which they did.

“For almost half a century, workers in the visual-effects industry have been denied the same protectionsThe following are some examples of how to get started: benefits their coworkers and crewmates have relied upon since the beginning of the Hollywood film industry,” VFX organizer for IATSE Mark Patch said in a statement. “This is a historic first step for VFX workers coming together with a collective voice demanding respect for what we do.”

The VFX workers looking to unionize are part of Marvel’s “on-set VFX specialists,” Vulture said, including “data wranglers, production managers, witness camera operators, and assistants employed on such MCU series as Loki and Daredevil Born Again.” Post-production VFX is typically outsourced to various VFX production houses, where Vulture reported Marvel is known as an industry “bully” that can “ruin careers.” IATSE is looking to start in-house with Marvel’s VFX team and, hopefully, spread the union solidarity outward from there.

Though other areas of the industry are unionized — like writers and actors — visual effects workers largely haven’t had union representation, despite their demanding work and long hours. Marvel VFX’s supermajority signed union authorization card to force an NLRB elections and join Hollywood’s thousands of unionized industry professionals.

IATSE represents those who work behind-the-scenes in television, theatre, movies and other media. The protections granted to IATSE workers behind the scenes have otherwise not applied to VFX workers: “Turnaround times don’t apply to us, protected hours don’t apply to us, and pay equity doesn’t apply to us,” VFX coordinator Bella Huffman told Vulture. “Visual effects must become a sustainable and safe department for everyone who’s suffered far too long and for all newcomers who need to know they won’t be exploited.”

Visual effects is a particularly difficult field, and Marvel is reportedly especially hard on its VFX workers, according to a Vulture report from January: “VFX workers specifically lament Marvel’s voracious appetite for visual effects butting up against its apparent unwillingness to invest in the human capital required to implement them,” the report reads. That means more work for less pay — reportedly 20% less than other studios, Vulture reported at the time.

Writers and performers from the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, (SAG-AFTRA), are currently on strike. They’re fighting against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to get better and new contracts. It’s an unprecedented summer of labor actions; both unions haven’t been on strike together since 1960. Like Marvel’s VFX workers, WGA and SAG-AFTRA members are looking for a say in how they’re compensated — in an industry that makes billions, workers are undervalued and looking for fair compensation for their work.

Polygon has contacted Marvel and IATSE to get their comments.