Seven Seas Entertainment has alerted the National Labor Relations Board and the United Workers of Seven Seas that it has chosen to hold an election among its employees to decide whether the independent manga house will unionize.
In a statement emailed to PW, Seven Seas Entertainment said, “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.”
Last week the UW7S, a new union organized by the staff of Seven Seas Entertainment in collaboration with the Communications Workers of America, announced that it was seeking to unionize the company and had filed for certification with the NLRB. Seven Seas management acknowledged that it declined to voluntarily recognize the union and have asked for an election by the staff to certify the UW7S as their union representative.
The Seven Seas statement continues: “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.”
