The United States Department of Justice has found Pixar and Lucasfilm guilty of restraint of trade."Beginning no later than January 2005, Lucasfilm and Pixar agreed to a three-part protocol that restricted recruiting of each other's employees. First, Lucasfilm and Pixar agreed they would not cold call each other's employees. Cold calling involves communicating directly in any manner (including orally, in writing, telephonically, or electronically) with another firm's employee who has not otherwise applied for a job opening. Second, they agreed to notify each other when making an offer to an employee of the other firm. Third, they agreed that, when offering a position to the other company's employee, neither would counteroffer above the initial offer.At the same time that Pixar was making Toy Story 3, where the villain hid behind an agreeable facade in order to manipulate others for his own selfish ends, the company was doing the identical thing to its employees. If you have a taste for wading through legal jargon, you can read the official documents here.
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"Lucasfilm's and Pixar's agreed-upon protocol disrupted the competitive market forces for employee talent. It eliminated a significant form of competition to attract digital animation employees and other employees covered by the agreement. Overall, it substantially diminished competition to the detriment of the affected employees who likely were deprived of information and access to better job opportunities.
"The agreement was a naked restraint of trade that was per se unlawful under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1."
(Link via VFX Soldier)
Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it? And just in time for the holidays. It's not enough that Pixar just plain pays less because they can... might as well enter into secret agreements with competitors to restrict wages.
ReplyDeleteKind of chips away at that family-friendly facade that surrounds Pixar, doesn't it? What a shame. Yet another reason to not see any upcoming Pixar films. My other reason being that every one of them past The Incredibles has left me disappointed.
ReplyDeleteThe same company that made the manipulative TOY STORY 3 tried to manipulate their employees! Hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting Mark!
ReplyDeleteIt's awful, but not all too surprising. You know the saying, "Perception is everything"...
Virtually every company I have worked at, including Lucas, has called us "family", and sadly, too many artists buy the illusion. The companies pay lawyers obscene amounts of money, while many artist scoff at the modest union dues they would have to pay for their own defense.
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays scumbags.
ReplyDeletei guess it proves that they care abt buisness too..
ReplyDeleteA 'family' is a very diverse term. It's like 'sports', on one end there's gentle badminton and on the other end there's murderous Thai boxing (to quote Sam Harris). I appreciate seeing comments from bay area animators here. Also, seeing they are anonymous, and reading their content gives the impression that the 'families' are more on the side of Thai boxing. I never had any sympathy for the corporate use of the word 'family', its a way to manufacture consent.
ReplyDeleteSomething we've always tried to pass on to kids entering the animation business.
ReplyDeleteBeware the company that calls you, "family." The "family" is usually five or six guys, and you're not one of them.
Sometimes it's the Soprano Family.
ReplyDelete"The same company that made the manipulative TOY STORY 3"
ReplyDeleteUh...all films are "manipulative." Toy Story 3 just does it better than most. And unlike Tulip or Illusionist, you can sit through the whole thing.