The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union that covers a diverse collection of warehouse workers, drivers and other laborers, has come out against Paramount Skydance’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. In a press release, the Teamsters announced that it had submitted a report to the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice outlining its concerns about the impact of the deal, and was urging the DOJ to intervene in the merger.
“This merger threatens the livelihoods of the workers who built these studios into industry giants,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement. “We have seen what happens when corporations consolidate power: Jobs disappear, production leaves American communities and workers pay the price. The DOJ has a responsibility to stop deals that eliminate competition and harm working families. Until Paramount and Warner Bros. can guarantee enforced protections for domestic production and labor standards, this merger cannot be allowed to proceed.”
The Teamsters are primarily concerned about how merging the two companies would consolidate power and eliminate jobs in the process. “Past mergers have a well-documented track record of harming workers – Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox resulted in the closure of production units, significant job losses and canceled projects,” the union says. The Motion Picture Teamsters, the division of the union centered in Hollywood that transports the equipment, props and crew members that make production possible, is set to be hardest hit.
The merger has a high potential to impact competition in the market, which is why the Teamsters expect the DOJ to step in, or in case Paramount and Warner Bros. are not able to provide “enforceable commitments to increase and maintain domestic production, stronger labor standards, and guarantees against layoffs and erosion of union jobs,” block the deal altogether.
Engadget asked the Teamsters union what it plans to do if the Justice Department doesn’t intervene. We will update this article if we get any response.
If Warner Bros. is given permission, Paramount Skydance has committed to producing 30 theatrical films annually, divided equally between both studios’ slates. The bigger issue is that the company’s offer to acquire the studio is based on the idea that it will soon pass the approval of government regulators. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is known for his close ties to President Donald Trump, and has already benefited from favorable treatment from the administration. There is a real possibility that Paramount’s new merger could be similarly successful, despite the Teamsters’ concerns.
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