The manga publisher Seven Seas Entertainment has provided ICv2 with an official statement responding to its employees’ announcement last week that they intend to unionize (see “Seven Seas Staff Organizes“). The publisher will not voluntarily recognize United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7W), so employees will now vote on the question in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The Seven Seas statement says:
“We respect the rights of our employees to choose or not choose union representation. While we have been requested by a number of employees to voluntarily recognize the CWA as their legal representative—without an NLRB conducted election—we have decided to respect the right of all eligible employees to vote on this issue. Since unionization would affect more members of staff than those who have already come forward, an election will ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn about their rights and the details of this process before they cast their vote through a governed process.
“We have notified the NLRB that we are prepared to move forward with an election among an appropriate unit of employees, and we will, of course, abide by the outcome of the election.”
In their initial announcement, the employees stated that Seven Seas has “over 40” employees; 30 signed the statement that they are organizing. The union vote requires a simple majority of voters to be successful.
Source: ICV2
