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A Discussion Among Unions - 100% Union Power at Little Secret

It's funny to read "Thank God for Aniplex." Consumers can't stand them or Netflix because of release patterns or pricing, but ironically they're the only companies paying people what they're worth.

It seems Crunchyroll's anti-union stance is an organizational thing. It's intrinsic to their identity as a company. Even before the merger happened.

The more I've heard from TX actors over the past few months (and now-LA actors who used to work primarily in TX and have seen how LA creatives have treated TX talent over the years), the less likely I ever see CR moving towards unionization under SAG-AFTRA. At most I could see more private, internal organizations primarily revolving around rates, as small improvements have already been made in those specific areas even before all this.

It's depressing as I think there's so much widespread good change to be had if they did organize, not only for actors on an individual basis but for the growth of that side of the industry. And frankly, up until they decided to cut down on remote casting outside reprisals, I have always been more consistently impressed with the quality of TX-led dubs and their director-led freedom of casting than most of what's being produced for Netflix under union contracts - even when a few different studios make up those latter productions. Everyone involved deserves to make a livable wage obviously, but the fact that they are producing such good quality work despite having the lion's share of titles, the typical challenges of simuldub scheduling, and without anyone (actors, writers, engineers, etc...) having the individual benefits of being part of a union really speaks volumes to how the people working on these dubs in TX deserve way way better. And that's not even getting into how much more popular and commercially viable anime has become over the years without the dubbing industry measuring up.

But there's really only so far non-TX actors can push here. I'm very pro-union and I've seen first hand the importance of unions (primarily Equity) with multiple members of my family. But LA talent acting like they know whats best for Texas VA's or downright dismissing any concerns they highlight as if it's a non-issue really felt like "the quiet part being spoken aloud." Thankfully there's way less of it as I've seen some actors like Stephanie Sheh or Laura Stahl rightfully call people out, or people with CODA hold roundtable discussions for questions. But that on top of the already longtime present and somewhat recently exacerbated divide really hasn't helped things. Which even more unfortunately, is great news for Crunchyroll the company.

I've said it before, but at the end of the day if TX talent (namely the people who have been there long enough that newer actors are going to look to them to lead on this) doesn't move towards unionization or want unionization as a whole, I don't think it ever will.

DamianSalazar wrote:

It seems Crunchyroll's anti-union stance is an organizational thing. It's intrinsic to their identity as a company. Even before the merger happened.

CR stepping in on Fena is probably the biggest revelation in the interview without being that surprising in the least. Hell, Funimation at least had a history of producing a very small number of dubs on a union contract to get certain reprisals back (that Nagoto Yuki-chan spin off series I think being the most recent from around 2014/15).

It seems Crunchyroll's anti-union stance is an organizational thing. It's intrinsic to their identity as a company. Even before the merger happened.

I'm always split on this. You want to make sure the voice actors are getting paid correctly, the og creators, anyone else involved, and we as consumers want a great quality product at a good price point.

The world will never be perfect, and the exact acceptable level of corporate shenanigans is subjective. But the system could clearly use some improvement. Even if that means we have somewhat less anime available.

kotomikun wrote:

The world will never be perfect, and the exact acceptable level of corporate shenanigans is subjective. But the system could clearly use some improvement. Even if that means we have somewhat less anime available.

Look, if you are on the side of affordable: housing, rent, living wage, education, medical, and food. Then we are on the same team. I would even go as far as saying some of that stuff should be out right free. But the only way to do the above is through change in government laws. Expecting to fix it solely through capitalism won't work. A union is just a capitalistic way of trying to solve it.

How are labor unions "capitalistic"?

Sidenote: there is also some weird racial USA history with labor unions and the police state. Likely not be that way for other parts of the world, just saying if you ever want to go down a rabbit hole.