Remote workers at DreamWorks Animation have ratified their first collective bargaining agreement with the Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839), securing pay, benefits and protections on a par with their Los Angeles-based colleagues. The deal, ratified on 21 August with 97% of participants voting in favour, addresses a long-standing gap in which remote artists and technicians working on the same productions as on-campus staff had lacked equivalent wage scales, healthcare and pension provisions.

Of 108 eligible voters, 90 cast ballots, an 83.3% turnout. Under the new contract, remote workers gain the same healthcare and pension coverage as on-campus staff, including zero-premium individual healthcare, and the lowest-paid remote artist will see hourly pay rise from $40.82 to $62.22, a 52.4% increase. The agreement, delivered via a sideletter to the union's Master Agreement, covers roles such as story artists, animators, technical directors and production coordinators across the US. The news follows a separate vote at Sony Pictures Animation on 27 August, where staff backed unionisation with TAG by 84%, after Sony declined voluntary recognition and required a formal NLRB election.