Unionized Workers Claim “Union Busting”

Dozens of postproduction staffers employed by Paramount World are protesting their impending layoffs in a letter to administration, claiming that the employer is participating in “union busting.”

As deep cuts to employees roil the conglomerate whereas it strikes forward with its plan to trim $500 million in prices, staffers of Paramount’s Digital Put up Companies unit delivered a letter on Oct. 28 to the corporate’s evp and chief know-how officer Phil Wiser over the forthcoming elimination of their division. The 38 staff, unionized with the Movement Image Editors Guild, have been knowledgeable in late September that their positions might be terminated efficient Dec. 31, based on the labor group.

Calling the transfer a “betrayal,” the staffers wrote that, on the day they have been knowledgeable of the layoffs, work orders that have been beforehand going to be fulfilled in-house have been being ready to be despatched out to different distributors. “All of us have been left collectively feeling blindsided and asking the lingering query…why?” the letter states. “We are able to solely characterize what you have got finished as ‘union busting.’ The irony is that it comes proper on the heels of the latest trade strikes which stopped a lot work, adopted by our personal contract ratification, a profitable endeavor meant to maintain the trade thriving. We can not in good conscience stay unvoiced.”

The affected staffers work in editorial, sound, colour grading, high quality management, digital duplication, digital restoration and knowledge administration. 

In June, Paramount’s three co-CEOs introduced a serious cost-cutting initiative that may happen over the course of the remainder of the 12 months in response to declining income. A spokesperson for Paramount World mentioned in a press release to The Hollywood Reporter that the corporate is “not resistant to the dynamics of our trade as all of us navigate the evolving media panorama.” The spokesperson famous that, as Paramount prepares for the longer term, “we’re additionally referred to as upon to make tough selections that impression colleagues who’ve made beneficial contributions.” The rep added, “We’re grateful for all they’ve finished for Paramount World.”

In an interview, MPEG nationwide government director Cathy Repola says that Paramount initially communicated to staffers and the union that the division was being shut down for “cost-saving functions,” which “means to me that the work goes to be despatched elsewhere.” (A union spokesperson says that, later, Paramount broadened its reasoning for the elimination of the unit.) The workers alleged union-busting as a result of they understand the transfer as “an effort to do away with the union division and ship it to probably non-union locations,” Repola provides.

Repola says the union was not initially afforded the chance to discount over the division’s elimination, however after “various heated letters from me to labor relations,” the 2 events have scheduled a gathering to debate the transfer.

General, Repola’s members — together with many within the U.S. crew workforce — have weathered important skilled turbulence over the previous couple of years. Work on union tasks largely halted through the twin writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 and manufacturing by no means totally rebounded after, together with as soon as IATSE negotiated a brand new contract with movie and tv employers, avoiding its personal work stoppage, this 12 months. Repola says she’s been listening to from members shedding their medical health insurance, being unable to pay their hire and shedding their houses. “It’s been a extremely, actually horrible 12 months and a half for thus many individuals. And it simply hits you within the intestine, one thing like this,” she says. She provides, “Now we have promised our members that we are going to do completely every thing inside our authorized rights to assist struggle towards this.”

The Paramount staffers claimed of their letter that their division has been worthwhile “12 months after 12 months.” The postproduction employees concluded their message, “We ask you to reverse this motion and restore our positions instantly.”

In early July, Shari Redstone accredited a deal to promote majority management of Paramount World to a consortium led by Skydance Media. Pending approval by regulators, the transaction is anticipated to shut in 2025.