Tensions over The Animation Guild‘s controversial new tentative contract spilled into public view on Tuesday as the ratification vote for the deal began.
Three members of the union’s negotiating committee posted on social media that they personally will be voting “no” on the tentative contract that they helped to bargain, primarily due to concerns about provisions covering generative AI.
“I believe the AI and outsourcing protections in this contract are not strong enough — and in my opinion — could lead to the loss of lots of jobs,” Mitchell vs. The Machines writer-director Mike Rianda posted on Instagram on Tuesday. Adding that there were gains in the contract, like pay increases and health benefits improvements, Rianda argued that the pact’s A.I. protections give “sole power to the employer to make us use A.I. however they see fit.”
The contract also does not contain outsourcing protections, Rianda said, because “we tried to get staffing minimums but the AMPTP blocked us.”
Fellow negotiating committee member and writer Joey Clift (PAW Patrol, Spirit Rangers) likewise explained that he was voting “no” in a series of posts on Bluesky and on X because the contract doesn’t resolve member concerns over AI. “We fought tooth and nail and received a few small AI protections in this contract, but these aren’t the strong, common sense AI guardrails we need to keep animation workers protected,” Clift wrote.
The My Little Pony: Make Your Mark writer Kelly Lynne D’Angelo, who also served on the negotiating committee, said she is voting “no” on Bluesky and on X: “I’ll go into further details soon, but it boils down to the fact to me, we still need to fight for more A.I. protections.” She added, “Voting ‘No’ could give us the leverage we need to actually get substantial gains. Does it mean we may lose other things negotiated? Yes. But do those things trump more needs in AI, outsourcing, and staffing minimums? That’s YOUR call to make. This vote needs to be overwhelmingly ‘No’ to do that.”
The union’s ratification voting period ends on Dec. 22. If members support the deal in a ratification vote, the contract will soon take effect. If they reject the deal, the Animation Guild and the AMPTP will go back to the bargaining table and attempt again to reach a compromise, with a strike potentially on the table.
The union’s negotiations, led by the AMPTP’s Tracy Cahill and The Animation Guild’s business representative Steve Kaplan, concluded with a tentative deal on Nov. 22 after months of talks.
More to come.
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