Production Assistants on Netflix's 'The Four Seasons' Take a Stand: Unionizing for Better Pay, Benefits, and Safety
Production Assistants United (PAU), a grassroots movement, is making waves in the entertainment industry by empowering production assistants and assistants on Netflix's 'The Four Seasons' to unionize. This bold move comes as a response to the lack of fair compensation, benefits, and safety standards they face on the job.
The group is filing for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with the goal of joining a union aligned with LiUNA Local 724, the Hollywood laborers' group. This is a significant step towards ensuring that production assistants and assistants have a collective voice and can negotiate for better working conditions.
'Our colleagues are union members because workers unionized their positions decades ago. Now, we’re organizing to secure the same protections and to build collective power in a political system that prioritizes corporate interests over the working class,' said Caroline O'Riordan, an assistant on the show. This sentiment reflects the growing frustration among production assistants and assistants who have long been overlooked and underappreciated in the industry.
'I’ve been working on productions for going on 10 years now. I’ve been a part of good productions and bad productions, worked with amazing people on projects that never saw the light of day and blockbusters alike, and still, my work is only as valued as whatever the state minimum wage is set to and not the worth of my contribution. My hours are long, sometimes longer than those in my department and we’re expected to do more in a tighter timeframe for the same wages, no healthcare, no per diem, no toll or mileage reimbursement, no lodging stipends,' said production assistant Jasmine Vargas. Her words highlight the harsh realities faced by many production assistants and assistants, who often work long hours for minimal pay and without essential benefits.
This is the latest organizing move from Production Assistants United, which has organized six productions in three months, including 'The Pitt' and 'Abbott Elementary'. 'The Pitt' voted to unionize in September, becoming the first major TV production where production assistants and assistants had done so. This sets a precedent and inspires other production assistants and assistants to take action and demand better working conditions.
With the reopening of the federal government, Production Assistants United plans on refiling with the NLRB for union elections across several shows and eyeing an upcoming filing for a Universal show. 'When we launched in 2023, some people called a PA union impossible,' said New York PAU Organizer Aelyjah Bell. 'As a longtime worker in the film industry, an active NAACP board member, and a person raised by activists and UFT union delegates, I knew that organizing production assistants was both ethically compulsory and inevitable. It is time for the studios to accept this reality.'
This movement is a powerful reminder that workers in the entertainment industry, including production assistants and assistants, deserve fair pay, benefits, and safety standards. It is a call to action for the industry to recognize the value of these workers and provide them with the respect and support they deserve. As the movement gains momentum, it will be interesting to see how the studios and production companies respond and whether they will be willing to negotiate for better working conditions for production assistants and assistants.
