With an increasingly unstable economy and no distributor in place yet for season 56 and beyond, things are complicated for Sesame Street at the moment. This uncertain picture has led to two major developments at Sesame Workshop.
Earlier this week, administrative staff at Sesame Workshop have unionized under the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153. While this doesn’t involve the show’s cast and crew, which are already represented by different unions, over 200 employees, including early childhood education experts, fundraisers, facilities staff, producers, paralegals, and more, have joined OPEIU.
“Sesame Street has taught generations the importance of kindness, fairness, and standing up for what’s right,” said Phoebe Gilpin, Senior Director of Formal Learning. “As the dedicated staff behind this beloved show and so much more, we believe Sesame Workshop should embody those same values by ensuring all workers have a voice in the decisions that affect us. By coming together, we believe we can build a stronger, more supportive workplace that embodies the crucial lessons we teach the world’s children every day.” The union hopes to begin negotiating with Sesame on a first contact in the coming weeks.
Part of their concerns includes fair pay and job security. The latter came under fire today as Sesame Workshop announced a swath of layoffs, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Alex Weprin. The move comes ahead of production on season 56, which still has yet to find a distributor. A spokesperson for Sesame told Weprin, “Amid the changing media and funding landscape, we have made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our organization. These changes are necessary to ensure that the Workshop is poised to continue to deliver on its mission for years to come, but that does not make the human impact of these reductions any less painful. As production of our 56th Season begins next month, we remain as committed as ever to bringing Sesame Street to children and families for decades to come.”
Right now, we have no evidence that either event was caused by the other. We’ll report as we continue to learn more about this ongoing story.
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by Matthew Soberman – [email protected]
