Unionisation and Minimun Wage for Artists

PietPompies

Hi guys.

So this thread pertains to animators and artists in all sectors of the industry so I'd love to hear your thoughts. Forgive me if I posted in the wrong place.

So the other day I ran into an animator pal on the bus and we got to chatting about work. Now see, apparently where (s)he works, you get a clause in your contract that precludes you having a union representative.

Now I never did no book learning, but I remember from Life Orientation class that all workers have the right to belong to a union. That would mean the aforementioned contract is void on account of being unconstitutional.

And for some reason, animators with varying degrees of experience are being paid 6k a month and stuck in internship limbos spanning months, and nobody talks to the right people about it.

Am I just jaded or is the SA animation industry one that just pathologically reduces the self-worth of artists by nature?

Is there no way to establish a minimum wage law or trade union for members of the media industries? What's the deal?

Thoughts!

Elyaradine

I do actually think that the local animation industry -- especially in reference to the studios that have to work in advertising -- is pretty broken. I think a lot of that culture is messed up. Advertising studios under-bid each other and then struggle to finish the work on such tight resources, and take part in pitches (effectively large-scale spec work), and do a whole bunch of other things that give short-term gain while causing massive long-term damage. I think that many of the studios promise unrealistic deliveries, and are scared into doing so because of competition. I feel as if they compromise on the quality of their work for the sake of tight deadlines, and as a result seldom get to work on projects that they can be truly proud of; and with most of the projects being lower-quality rush-jobs, there's less of a need for experienced, skilled staff, which makes most of the employees easy to replace. And I think that the average salaries are very low, especially considering the massive amounts of crunch and overtime they seem to go through quite regularly.

I think it's also a problem that animation education costs a great deal of money. It's madness to be studying a ~R200,000 degree when junior animators are paid R6k. When you're in debt, it seems much more difficult to quit your job when you're not happy with your working conditions/salary, because getting paid crap wages seems better than not being paid at all.

But that said, I'm not sure something like unionising is the answer. I don't believe the directors of animation studios are extremely wealthy. Sure, some of them are millionaires, but my impression is that the ones who are have been working for decades. (i.e. It's because they've had decades in which to invest money, in which case it's pretty easy to make a few million rand; I don't think it's because they pay themselves giant salaries. One of my old bosses who worked for many years in advertising is a millionaire, but he made almost all of his fortune in the property booms.) I remember back in 2008/9 how a whole bunch of animation studios (all who work in advertising) closed or let go of staff. I mostly feel that if animators fight for a minimum wage, a whole lot of juniors (who were earning very little anyway) will lose their jobs, at which point who was the union fighting for anyway?

I don't know how to fix a broken industry, so I'm pretty happy to keep far away from advertising. Not having to deal with the dubious ethics of branding is a giant cherry on the top. But I do have friends who work as animators in advertising who've been paid more than R25k, so it's not as if it's not possible to make well over R6k. I believe most of that's got to do with skills-building and attitude.

--
I think unionising in the game industry would be a big mistake. I don't see the point in making it even more difficult to run game studios when they're currently almost nonexistent. Like, the number of people who died or got injured in the 2012 Lonmin tragedy is almost half of the entire South African game industry. I want more potential employers, because that indirectly inflates my salary.

dislekcia

I'd just like to point out that unionisation isn't only about bargaining with employers. A union can apply collective power to financial systems as well: Either providing medical or retirement schemes to its members - or at least negotiating better rates for members of a specific industry with shared ailments (carpal tunnel?). A union operating well would even be able to help animation students with both their fees AND potential debt.

Also @Elyaradine, I'd advise against assuming that low end jobs in animation aren't worth sacrificing to stop the short-term practices pointed out above. If you're correct in assuming that the problems with the animation industry stem from too much spec work and overpromising, then union action can be a good way to make those decisions more expensive for companies - some would argue that would make them reflect their actual long term cost better. If those management decisions start changing, then low-end animation jobs might disappear for a bit (and really, are those the only jobs animation students can get?) but if the industry ends up growing as a result, then those jobs will return in a few years with better rates...

P.S. I'm a little worried that this discussion is happening here when AnimationSA exists. I do not want this to become a gripe fest.

LexAquillia

@PietPompies

A couple of things strike me about this. What law is governing this contract? SA or US or other?

Second not being able to have union representative at what? That doesn't mean you can't be part of a union (as I understand your description of the clause), just that union Rep wouldn't be allowed at something, like your disciplinary hearing, which in itself is not unconstitutional.

Elyaradine

@dislekcia: All of my Average Joe understanding is second-hand info from friends of mine who work in advertising, but for the most part, the studios seem to me to stay afloat by having a small handful of very skilled, very senior staff who make sure things don't go too awry, while having armies of hopeful juniors to pad out the ranks and grind through work. I think that makes stuff like minimum wage a much more difficult thing to want to enforce, because of how much of the workforce it affects, and how increases in minimum wage across large numbers of people result in giant additional expenses for studios. If I were someone who's super senior there, there are many advantages to unionising (like fighting for more regular, reasonable work hours to allow for family life, without being under threat of losing one's job to a junior-ish artist who can afford to throw indefinite hours at things). But I don't feel I can say "junior animation jobs are worth sacrificing" when I'm not a junior animator. It's easy to make selfish choices and disguise it by saying it's for the long-term good of the industry when you're not the one who has to find a job in a completely different industry to make ends meet. (Many acquaintances of mine who got art degrees instead went to work as air hostesses, English teachers in the Far East, secretaries and middle-management in mining and manufacturing industries, simulation and gambling.)

I feel that many of the things that aren't to do with minimum wage are things that associations like AnimationSA and MGSA, functioning well, would be doing for paid members anyway. Not that multiple organisations can't be fighting for the same good goals.

For the most part, I've felt that the most direct thing that can be done to improve things is just to teach artists to be more business-savvy, but it's a bit of a tricky thing. A lot of that business-savviness has to do with making oneself a more competitive hire, and thinking about oneself from an employer's point of view (rather than marching blindly out into the job market waving an art degree as if that should somehow guarantee a decent job/salary), and if you teach all artists to be more competitive that way, then, in some ways, nobody is more competitive any more. :P

Anyway, I'm no lawyer or economist and I'm happy to be corrected!

PietPompies

LexAquillia said:

@PietPompies

A couple of things strike me about this. What law is governing this contract? SA or US or other?

Second not being able to have union representative at what? That doesn't mean you can't be part of a union (as I understand your description of the clause), just that union Rep wouldn't be allowed at something, like your disciplinary hearing, which in itself is not unconstitutional.

(By the way, I wanted to post here instead of AnimSA because I wanted to get your general opinions first. And this would fall under SA labour law.)

Hmm... I didn't ask them if there was a distinction. (S)he told me: "Yeah, our team's been doing overtime for a few weeks now and-" (Something about team structure) "-so we're not getting paid extra".
I replied: "Lol we should unionise. Why do artists not have a union?"
Then (s)he said "Our contract actually says we are not allowed to have union representatives." I didn't probe, but it was bugging me.
I totally understand why there is no institution at this time, our industry is tiny compared to the US. But it is big compared to SA 10 years ago. I do not know what these things cost to maintain. And I know that a lot of the overtime spent by juniors is of their own accord. It just seems odd that no-one seems to be discussing this issue as it pertains to the rights of SA artists at large.
I'm not saying we should use bully tactics to enforce accountability, be it from the big studios or the indies. Heavens no. I just think it's time that the appropriate standards are put in place for what constitutes minimum pay for independent young adults, especially with the government sitting up and getting involved in funding initiatives like Story Lab etc.
If a graduate is desperate to join a company they admire for peanuts that's fine, but if you can't guaruntee the correct remuneration over a sustained period of time, then that person should not have to sign any kind of contract.
I just feel like we are at some kind of crossroads, and I would rather our industry go the way of America than Japan.

Sorry if I'm rambling, just trying to see if there is validity to my thought here. *Echs internally*

oldtimerza

I'm of the opinion that business will pay what business can get away with paying.

Most of the time animation artists earn 6k(or anyone who earns 6kpm), earn that because that is what a business is willing to pay.
If you don't like it , then they'll just find someone who will put up with it.
The only reason this happens is because it's possible .

There is no scarcity for skills that they need to get the job done.
Little demand + high supply = low cost.
So the business can continue to get away with paying R6k pm .
Now I'm not saying they need degree'd people, they just need someone who can slap together something on photoshop in a day. There are quite a bit of degreed and non-degreed people that can do that. Most businesses are agnostic to whether you're degreed or not , as long as you can solve the given problem.