After two successful unionization efforts at Titmouse New York and with the staff of Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News, The Animation Guild is looking to unionize Austin, Texas-based Powerhouse Animation Studios. The studio's members filed for a National Labor Relations Board election this Monday (April 24) and are awaiting a date for that election.
The unit at Powerhouse will be joining TAG Local 839 and consists of 137 workers. Of those 137, a supermajority have apparently signed on to the effort–this is usually a pretty good indicator that a unionization effort will succeed. They're also seeking voluntary recognition from Powerhouse, although as is true of most voluntary recognition efforts I doubt that will happen. A primary motivator for the union effort is job security (although union members are also looking for equal wages at the studio)–this is pretty understandable, given that many animation studios and animated projects are being gutted, to put it politely.
One thing worth nothing–although I don't think it will have much of an impact on this specific union in the immediate term–is that Texas is also a right-to-work state.1 This can be a complicating factor in unionization efforts, and it'll be interesting to see if this causes trouble for the union down the road if they win.
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For those unaware, "right-to-work" means that employees have a legal right to refrain from paying or being a member of a labor union, even if they're protected by the collective bargaining of said union. Such states also generally outlaw union shops (places where non-union employees can be hired but then must join the union within a certain period) and agency shops (in which employees are free to not join the union, but have to pay the equivalent of the cost of union representation).