Dozens of post-production staff employed by Paramount Global are protesting their impending layoffs, claiming in a letter to management that their employer is engaging in “union busting.” There is.
Staff at Paramount’s Digital Post Services division on Thursday announced that the company will be cutting jobs in the near future, as deep layoffs roil the conglomerate as it moves forward with a $500 million cost-cutting plan. The letter was delivered to Phil Weiser, vice president and chief technology officer. of their department. According to labor groups, 38 employees who are members of the film editors union were told in late September that their jobs would be terminated as of December 31.
Calling the move a “betrayal,” the employees wrote that on the day they were informed of the layoffs, work orders that had previously been scheduled to be processed in-house were being prepared to be shipped to other vendors. . “We all felt blindsided all at once and were left with a lingering question…why?” the letter reads. “We can only describe what you have done as ‘union-busting.’ Ironically, this comes after the recent industry strike that halted much work, This comes on the heels of a successful effort to ratify our own contract. We cannot in good conscience remain silent.”
Affected staff work in editing, sound, color grading, quality control, digital reproduction, digital restoration, and data management.
In June, Paramount’s three co-CEOs announced a major cost-cutting plan to be implemented throughout the year in response to declining profits. A Paramount Global spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that the company is “not immune to industry trends as we all navigate the evolving media landscape.” As Paramount prepares for the future, the spokesperson said, “we are also being asked to make difficult decisions that impact our colleagues who have made valuable contributions.” The rep added, “We appreciate everything they have done for Paramount Global.”
Kathy Leppola, MPEG’s national executive director, said in an interview that Paramount initially told staff and the union that the division would be closed “for cost-cutting purposes,” which “to me meant a lot of work.” This means that they will be redirected elsewhere.” (A union spokesperson later said Paramount expanded its grounds for abolishing the union.) Employees called the move “an effort to eliminate the union sector and potentially send it to non-workers.” He claimed that he committed union-busting because he was aware of this. It’s a union place,” Lepola added.
Lepola said the union was initially not given the opportunity to negotiate over the department’s elimination, but after “quite a few impassioned letters from me to labor and management officials,” the two parties discussed the move. He said he was planning a meeting.
Overall, Repola members, like many of America’s aircrews, have weathered significant professional upheaval over the past few years. Work on union projects largely halted during the 2023 writers and actors double strike, including when IATSE avoided its own work stoppage this year and negotiated new contracts with film and television employers. Even after that, production never fully recovered. Lepola said he is listening to members who have lost health insurance, been unable to pay rent and lost their homes. “It’s been a really, really scary year and a half for a lot of people. And it just kind of stabs you in the gut, something like this,” she says. She added: “We have promised our members that we will do everything within our legal rights to combat this.”
Paramount officials claimed in the letter that their division has been profitable “year after year.” The post-production workers concluded their message with, “We ask that you cancel this action and immediately restore your position.”
In early July, Shari Redstone approved a deal to sell majority control of Paramount Global to a consortium led by Skydance Media. The transaction is expected to close in 2025, pending regulatory approval.