‘The Four Seasons’ Production Assistants File for Union Election, Fueling Hollywood Labor Movement
A growing wave of labor organizing is sweeping through Hollywood, as production assistants and assistants on the Netflix series The Four Seasons have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The move signals a significant escalation in efforts to improve working conditions for entry-level positions in the entertainment industry.
The group aims to join a union affiliated with LiUNA Local 724, the union representing Hollywood laborers. Production Assistants United (PAU), a grassroots organizing movement, spearheaded the effort, securing a supermajority of signed union authorization cards from crew members as early as October.
The push for unionization comes as workers seek fundamental improvements in their employment terms. Specifically, The Four Seasons production assistants are advocating for higher pay, comprehensive union healthcare, and improved safety standards on set. While The Four Seasons airs on Netflix, it is produced by Universal Television.
“Our colleagues are union members because workers unionized their positions decades ago. Now, we’re organizing to secure the same protections and to build collective power in a political system that prioritizes corporate interests over the working class,” stated an assistant on the show.
The concerns extend beyond basic compensation. One production assistant, with nearly a decade of experience in the industry, described a system where long hours and increasing demands are not reflected in wages. “I’ve been working on productions for going on 10 years now…and still, my work is only as valued as whatever the state minimum wage is set to and not the worth of my contribution,” they explained. “My hours are long…we’re expected to do more in a tighter timeframe for the same wages, no healthcare, no per diem, no toll or mileage reimbursement, no lodging stipends.”
This latest development builds on the momentum generated by PAU, which has organized six productions in the last three months, including The Pitt and Abbott Elementary. In September, The Pitt became the first major television production to successfully vote to unionize its production and assistant staff.
With the federal government now fully reopened, PAU is preparing to refile for union elections across multiple shows and is also targeting an upcoming filing for another Universal production.
“When we launched in 2023, some people called a PA union impossible,” said Aelyjah Bell, a New York PAU organizer. “As a longtime worker in the film industry…I knew that organizing production assistants was both ethically compulsory and inevitable. It is time for the studios to accept this reality.”
The organizing efforts reflect a broader shift in the entertainment industry, as workers at all levels increasingly demand fair treatment and a greater share of the profits generated by blockbuster productions.
