A+E Factual Studios Unionizes With WGA East: “Realities Of The Job Can Take A Heavy Toll”
It’s a fact: Staffers at A+E Factual Studios, producer of nonfiction fare including Hulu’s Dance Moms: A New Era and Lifetime’s The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, have unionized with WGA East for collective bargaining.
More than 150 employees have called on A+E to voluntarily recognize their union voluntarily, and a majority have signed union cards, WGAE said today — exactly one year after the Writers Guild strike settlement was reached.
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“We are passionate about our work, and we’re tremendously proud of what we create,” A+E Nonfiction Union said its “Why We’re Organizing” letter (read it in full below). “But we also know that this system is unsustainable, and that the nonfiction television industry needs to change. We are resolved to create a collaborative, equitable, and respectful work environment, and we believe that unionizing will allow A+E to be a leader in the creation of a more equitable nonfiction television industry.”
Founded in 2018, A+E Factual Studios’ credits also include such shows as A&E’s Cold Case Files; Disney+’s Best in Show; and History’s The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd, The Proof Is Out There and History’s Greatest Mysteries. Co-owned by Disney and Hearst and led by president Sharon Scott and EVPs Steve Ascher and Jhamal Robinson, it has more than 200 hours in production and 100-plus projects in development, per its website.
The A+E Nonfiction Union joins other recently unionized nonfiction outfits Story Syndicate and McGee Media Unions, both of which are negotiating their first collective bargaining agreements. WGA East also reps members of nonfiction production companies BSTV Entertainment, Jigsaw, Lion, NBC News Service (fka Peacock) and Vox Entertainment.
Here is the A+E Nonfiction Union’s “Why We’re Organizing” letter in full:
We, the dedicated workers of A+E Factual Studios behind hundreds of hours of programming a year for A+E, Lifetime, and the History Channel, are thrilled to announce that we have formed a union with the Writers Guild of America East.
We are dedicated to our profession, to our projects, and to the collaborative nature of television production. But the realities of the job can take a heavy toll. Tight turnarounds and unrealistic expectations from network executives mean that we routinely work long, unpredictable hours. We are frequently assigned the work of two people due to network cost-cutting, only for network executives to receive bonuses for coming in under budget.
We are passionate about our work, and we’re tremendously proud of what we create. But we also know that this system is unsustainable, and that the nonfiction television industry needs to change. We are resolved to create a collaborative, equitable, and respectful work environment, and we believe that unionizing will allow A+E to be a leader in the creation of a more equitable nonfiction television industry.
It’s with these truths in mind that we have decided to form a union for the benefit of us all — producers/writers, researchers, archivists, showrunners, studio and network executives — both at A+E and across the industry. We believe that the power of collective bargaining will demonstrate what it means to succeed together by allowing us to work with A+E Factual Studios to establish:
● Fair pay and benefits – We seek fair and competitive pay minimums and annual increases, signing and retention bonuses, and paid time off policies that support the success of all employees, rather than pitting us against each other and contributing to systemic pay disparities.
● Better working conditions and job protections – We hope to invest in the well-being and retention of current workers through better scheduling, adequate staffing and long-term contracts, clear assignments, and reasonable workloads and deadlines. We also seek terms that support sustainable careers in the industry at large through portable health insurance and union security.
● Professional advancement – We want to establish clear, achievable paths to promotion that help workers to develop successful long-term careers, and create specific structures to support the development of workers from underrepresented backgrounds in senior roles.
● Improved transparency, accountability and inclusivity – We want to establish stronger anti-harassment and discrimination policies to protect marginalized workers, improve communication between workers and management, and increase avenues for collective decision making.
We are proud to work for a company that commands such a huge influence in the nonfiction space, both through the content it produces and the name recognition it holds. What A+E does sets the tone – for every other unscripted studio, for the industry as a whole. We invite A+E Factual Studios to continue its legacy as a leader in the nonfiction industry by recognizing our union and working together with us to achieve a fair, equitable union contract that sets the standard for what it means to work in nonfiction.
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