Workers at Powerhouse Animation Studios in Texas are looking to unionize.

In association with The Animation Guild (TAG), a group of employees at the service shop sent a letter to Powerhouse leadership yesterday asking for the company to voluntarily recognize its TAG membership. Voluntary recognition would allow the group to collectively bargain an agreement with the employer without needing to go to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), or hold an election to prove a union has support from a majority of workers.

Powerhouse has studios in LA and Austin, Texas, and the LA studio is already aligned with TAG and has a collective bargaining agreement in place. There are roughly 170 employees at the Texas studio, with 137 of them (a “super-majority” of its animation workers, according to TAG) in the bargaining unit seeking wage equality and job protection.

Powerhouse workers have filed a petition with the NLRB to hold an election “if needed.” Texas is the first right-to-work state (by law, employment can’t be denied if a worker is, or isn’t, in a union) where TAG has organized a campaign, and it’s the union’s third organization effort outside of LA. There are two TAG unionized studios in New York.

“Together, we can push for better contracts that support a healthy work/life balance, career training and growth, fair pay and wages, and better job security for our staff,” said Ryan Arrington, production manager for Powerhouse Animation.

Powerhouse provides animation service work for TV shows, video games and advertising. On the kids side, it has worked on Mattel Television’s Masters of the Universe: Revelations for Netflix and Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Kid Danger (pictured).

TAG has been successful with a number of its recent unionization drives, including at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Nickelodeon Studios, which voluntarily recognized the production workers union. The Disney drive is still pending an outcome.