Simpsons' Spanish Voices Lobby for Jobs
Thu Jan 13, 9:57 AM ET Television - AP
By MORGAN LEE, Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY - Marge Simpson is near tears, and the normally menacing Mr. Burns is full of warmth and gratitude.

The union actors who dub "The Simpsons" into Spanish are asking their Mexican audience for help as they fight for their livelihoods in a labor dispute that could silence the original Spanish voices from the 15-year-old animated comedy.

"Marge is very sad," said Nancy Mackenzie, the voice of the Simpsons matriarch. "I don't believe they'll replace us. Something deep inside says no."

The disagreement between the actors union and a Mexican contracting company is in the hands of government labor arbitrators at a time when the actors say they normally would be sitting down to tape the upcoming season of "The Simpsons."

If an agreement isn't reached, the actors fear the company will hire new voices, changing the cartoon's Spanish alter egos — voices known throughout Latin America.

At a news conference this week, Gabriel Chavez, the voice of dastardly power plant owner "Senor Burns," thanked fans who have objected to casting changes as the union negotiates its demands.

"The only thing I can say is, 'Heck, don't stop coming around to the nuclear plant in Springfield,'" Chavez said in his Mr. Burns voice, referring to the imaginary home town of the Simpsons family. "And I'm inviting you, I'm taking everybody out to drink at Moe's tavern. And it's free."

The Mexico's National Actors Association, a union founded in 1934 that now includes about 15,000 members, has accused a Mexican contractor of attempting to hire too many nonunion voices and breaking provisions of a collective bargaining agreement that dictates exclusive use of union labor.

The contractor, Grabaciones y Doblajes Internationales, maintains it has invited National Actors Association members and other actors to continue dubbing the cartoon series, but that the union is using strong-arm tactics to hold onto most parts.

The company argues it needs the new voices in order to compete.

"With attitudes like these, our country has lost ground for dubbing in Latin America," the company said in a news release. "Much of this work today is done in Venezuela, Colombia and, more recently, in Argentina and Chile."

But Humberto Velez, the Spanish voice of Homer Simpson, said he makes only about $55 per episode and feels compelled to stand up for the union that pays his benefits.

"We're not people who like to fight," Velez said. "The only thing we know how to do is act. ... But we will never let people that aren't interested in agreements take away our rights for their own benefit. How am I supposed to take care of my kids?"

While the dubbing contractor for "The Simpsons" condemned comments by the actors as pressure tactics, Mexican labor expert Nestor de Buen noted that the National Actors Association has not led a strike during the past three decades and is not known for being confrontational.

Mackenzie, the voice of Marge, has been with the union for about 40 years, dubbing television shows that include "Dallas" and "The Dukes of Hazard."

Losing the part in "The Simpsons" would be hard to take, she said.

"You get to the point where you care deeply for your cartoon character," Mackenzie said. "You love them. You go to bed with them at night. It's a sad state, and not because of the money. It's for love."

Latin 'Simpsons' replaces voices
Labor dispute leads to replacing cast of 'Los Simpson'
Tuesday, June 7, 2005 Posted: 9:23 AM EDT (1323 GMT)

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (Hollywood Reporter) -- When Latin American audiences tune in to the new season of "The Simpsons" in July, they might notice something oddly different about the voices of Homero or Senor Burns.

That's because a labor dispute has prompted a dubbing studio to replace the program's famed Spanish-language cast members as it heads into its 16th season here.

"Los Simpson," as the series is called in Spanish, has been a huge success throughout Latin America. The big question now is how viewers will react to an entirely new cast of voice actors for the coming season in July.

"I'm deeply disappointed because we did such quality work and now they're using other people," said Humberto Velez, who had been doing the voice of Homero Simpson for 15 years. "Every one of us has given personality to the characters and that's because we loved what we were doing."

The original cast, represented by Mexico's National Actors Assn., or ANDA union, went on strike in February. But the labor feud dates back to September when Mexico City dubbing firm Grabaciones y Doblajes Internacionales started hiring "independents," claimed Laura Torres, president of ANDA's dubbing commission.

Formerly known as Grabaciones y Doblajes, the studio had a collective bargaining agreement with the union requiring it to work exclusively with ANDA talent. Torres claimed that after a change of ownership in 2000 the company renamed itself GDI, and in 2002 it refused to recognize the exclusivity agreement that it had had with ANDA for 40 years.

GDI has offered to draw up a new contract that would allow it to hire both union and non-union actors, but ANDA says that is not acceptable and that the existing contract should be honored.

GDI general director Magdalena Questa, whose company also dubs other Fox series like "Malcolm in the Middle" and "King of the Hill," maintains that the studio was within its legal right to hire new actors on grounds that in May a Mexico City district labor court declared the strike "invalid."

Fox refuses to get involved, claiming that it is a local matter.

And what would Velez's character Homero Simpson have to say about all this?

"He probably wouldn't realize what's going on," said Velez chuckling. "Or he would just say, 'Doh!'"