Dozens of postproduction staffers employed by Paramount Global are protesting their impending layoffs in a letter to management, claiming that the employer is engaging in “union busting.”
As deep cuts to staff roil the conglomerate while it moves ahead with its plan to trim $500 million in costs, staffers of Paramount’s Digital Post Services unit delivered a letter on Oct. 28 to the company’s evp and chief technology officer Phil Wiser over the forthcoming elimination of their department. The 38 employees, unionized with the Motion Picture Editors Guild, were informed in late September that their positions will be terminated effective Dec. 31, according to the labor group.
Calling the move a “betrayal,” the staffers wrote that, on the day they were informed of the layoffs, work orders that were previously going to be fulfilled in-house were being prepared to be sent out to other vendors. “We all were left collectively feeling blindsided and asking the lingering question…why?” the letter states. “We can only characterize what you have done as ‘union busting.’ The irony is that it comes right on the heels of the recent industry strikes which stopped so much work, followed by our own contract ratification, a successful endeavor meant to keep the industry thriving. We cannot in good conscience remain voiceless.”
The affected staffers work in editorial, sound, color grading, quality control, digital duplication, digital restoration and data management.
In June, Paramount’s three co-CEOs announced a major cost-cutting initiative that would take place over the course of the rest of the year in response to declining profits. A spokesperson for Paramount Global said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that the company is “not immune to the dynamics of our industry as we all navigate the evolving media landscape.” The spokesperson noted that, as Paramount prepares for the future, “we are also called upon to make difficult decisions that impact colleagues who have made valuable contributions.” The rep added, “We are grateful for all they have done for Paramount Global.”
In an interview, MPEG national executive director Cathy Repola says that Paramount initially communicated to staffers and the union that the department was being shut down for “cost-saving purposes,” which “means to me that the work is going to be sent elsewhere.” (A union spokesperson says that, later, Paramount broadened its reasoning for the elimination of the unit.) The employees alleged union-busting because they perceive the move as “an effort to get rid of the union department and send it to potentially non-union places,” Repola adds.
Repola says the union was not initially afforded the opportunity to bargain over the department’s elimination, but after “quite a lot of heated letters from me to labor relations,” the two parties have scheduled a meeting to discuss the move.
Overall, Repola’s members — along with many in the U.S. crew workforce — have weathered significant professional turbulence over the last few years. Work on union projects largely halted during the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 and production never fully rebounded after, including once IATSE negotiated a new contract with film and television employers, avoiding its own work stoppage, this year. Repola says she’s been hearing from members losing their health insurance, being unable to pay their rent and losing their homes. “It’s been a really, really horrible year and a half for so many people. And it just hits you in the gut, something like this,” she says. She adds, “We have promised our members that we will do absolutely everything within our legal rights to help fight against this.”
The Paramount staffers claimed in their letter that their department has been profitable “year after year.” The postproduction workers concluded their message, “We ask you to reverse this action and restore our positions immediately.”
In early July, Shari Redstone approved a deal to sell majority control of Paramount Global to a consortium led by Skydance Media. Pending approval by regulators, the transaction is expected to close in 2025.