‘The Pitt’ Production Assistants Launch Landmark Unionization Drive

As seen in The Hollywood Reporter

The hit, Emmy-nominated show The Pitt is notching another distinction: In a rare move, its production assistants are announcing an attempt to unionize.

Support staffers on the second season of the show requested voluntary recognition for a union and filed a petition for an election with the National Labor Relations Board on Friday, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Their effort is the first backed by Production Assistants United — a movement that aims to unionize this class of workers nationwide — to go public.

“This is the first time ever that we can say PAs and assistants are unionizing on a show like this in film and TV,” says Production Assistants United organizer Ethan Ravens, who like other leaders in the movement is a production assistant himself. “It’s huge.”

His group, which is affiliated with the Hollywood laborers’ union LiUNA Local 724, has targeted a little under 20 workers on the show, including all production assistants and other on-set support staffers, like personal and executive assistants.

“I think a union is going to bring a lot of continuous, forward progression,” said one supportive production assistant on the show, who asked to remain anonymous. “We deserve a seat at the table and unions are supposed to give their members a voice and let them be heard.”