More than half of Nickelodeon Studios’ production workers have voted in favor of unionizing with entertainment industry union The Animation Guild, or TAG (IATSE 839).

The 177 staffers include production managers, production coordinators, post-production assistants, art production coordinators and asset coordinators. It’s the largest group of production workers ever to organize with TAG, which represents more than 5,000 people employed in the animation industry.

TAG has an existing collective agreement in place with Nickelodeon that covers more than 400 artists employed as writers, characters designers, storyboard artists and CG technicians. The group in favor of unionizing is seeking a new agreement that includes all animation workers at the company, and also higher wages and lower-cost benefits for the production workers specifically.

TAG says it requested that Nickelodeon voluntarily recognize the production and coordination staff within the union, but the studio chose not to.

Nick spokesperson David Bittler says the company has been working with TAG towards a resolution. “We have been collaboratively working with The Animation Guild regarding a path forward for this group of employees, and we expect our long-standing, positive relationship with the Guild to continue.”

So far, no dates for formal negotiations have been set. Should the two parties not be able to reach an agreement independently, TAG might move to file for a union election with the National Labor Review Board—the federal agency that oversees workers’ rights to organize and unionize—as early as next week, said its business representative Steve Kaplan.

TAG emphasized that the group’s current salaries do not meet the threshold for cost of living. “The current pay gap for production roles makes it near impossible to survive in Los Angeles,” said Nickelodeon production coordinator Ryan Brodsky (Santiago of the Seas) in a release.

Other production workers have taken to social media to voice their concerns. “For too long, animation production has been the heroes behind the purple curtain, working tirelessly alongside our artist kin, but without the same protections,” said production coordinator Abigail Bokun (Baby Shark’s Big Show!) on Twitter.

There’s been a recent push to unionize in the North American animation industry, with Canadian studios Oasis Animation and Titmouse signing deals in 2021. Earlier this year, Nova Scotia’s Jam Filled followed suit and had its first union drive. The entertainment industry is largely unionized in European countries such as France and the UK, but the US and Canada have remained more or less union-free.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.