Following a recent discussion between Animation Workers Ireland (AWI) and CATU’s Trade Union Working Group, one thing became clear: for many workers, the housing crisis is also a workplace issue.

Ireland’s housing crisis is often discussed in terms of rising rents, homelessness and access to housing. But for workers on insecure contracts, housing has become another mechanism through which employers and landlords benefit from precarity. Animation workers experience this particularly acutely, making the industry a stark example of how insecure work and insecure housing reinforce one another

Ireland is facing an unprecedented housing crisis. As time passes, the factors contributing towards this crisis compound making life more difficult for those who are already exploited and disadvantaged.

The animation industry is internally a very competitive environment when it comes to securing employment, but there are a few factors which make the current state of housing even more detrimental to workers of this industry.

The vast majority of animation contracts are fixed-term with no guarantee of continued work once a contract ends. Due to the structure of animation studios, they hire solely off of their current client’s needs and rarely order their workforce outside of that. Contracts often range from a year to six months, but can be even shorter than that. What’s more, as a contract concludes, animation workers are given very little notice – if any – that there might be a chance for their contract to extend into more work.

This creates a worker that is uniquely susceptible to the worst parts of our housing crisis. Despite most all animation positions being ones that can be done remotely, many studios insist on compulsory days in office. The large majority of workers in Ireland are split between a select few studios located in Dublin, Kilkenny and Belfast. 

This results in concentrated waves where as a production begins, animation workers are forced to follow the jobs and relocate within a workable distance of these studios. However, with contracts as short as six months, this can mean uprooting your life and changing home twice a year at the least. This creates a cycle where individual workers are victims of the housing markets at a more common rate than usual. Of note too, these moves most often occur between contracts, when the worker is most vulnerable as they are outside of secure employment and income. 

There are a huge amount of knock-on effects of this. Workers have fewer choices, having to rely on leases that will take them on for irregular periods, sometimes with only four months of work guaranteed ahead of them. Landlords know their property’s relationship to the studio and can charge exploitative amounts since they know the workers have little other options. This harms other individuals outside of the sector hoping to find accommodation in the area too.

Animation workers simply do not have strong bargaining power due to the transitory nature of the industry, with pay that is not substantial enough to cushion the blow of regular relocation either. Some studios have capitalised on this by offering accommodation as a joint aspect of their contracted work. We all know the precariousness of having both your personal living environment and your income dependent on your employer and completely erodes the boundaries between work and personal life.

When the Irish animation sector is unable to sustain itself in these conditions, studios look abroad. Workers will be offered positions to come from elsewhere in the EU and work here but are not fully informed of the housing crisis, becoming victim to the very same practices. Without the safety net that Irish workers have built up in this country and no studios willing to offer substantial visa support, these workers often have to leave the country as quickly as they arrive, having no potential options once their contract concludes.

Workers who might be vulnerable in their home life don’t have the ability to break free and achieve independence either, with some of them having to return to former damaging residencies when the work dries up and due to financial instability.For workers who want to find a permanent home, it can be hard to secure mortgages when your career consists of irregular contract lengths with varying rates of pay.

The conversation between AWI and CATU highlighted something both organisations already understood: housing and labour cannot be separated. A tenant facing eviction is often also a worker facing insecurity. A worker unable to afford rent has less power to challenge poor conditions at work.

By bringing together tenant organisers and trade unionists, we strengthen both movements. The fight for secure housing is a fight for decent work, and the fight for decent work depends on people having secure homes from which to organise, participate in their communities and build their futures.

We look forward to continuing to organise together, share experiences and build solidarity between tenants and workers across Ireland