A supermajority of workers at Dark Horse Comics, including employees at Things from Another World, the retail chain the company is shutting down (see “Dark Horse Shutting Down Retail Chain“), announced that they have formed a union affiliated with the Communications Workers of America and asked for voluntary recognition.
In an atypical move for union demands, which are typically focused on pay and working conditions, the Dark Horse Workers United list of key issues includes a demand that the company continue to publish creator-owned comics. The union described its motivations for forming the union as, “…a desire for equitable pay, workplace democracy, and a continued commitment to creator-owned comics.”
Perhaps more telling, the union also listed some precipitating events that led to the formation of the union: “The looming uncertainty from recent layoffs, wage/hiring freeze, change in leadership power, emergence of artificial intelligence, and return-to-office policies (despite their economic impact on employees) have fueled us to organize and collectively address our concerns.”
The change in leadership power the union referred to was the removal by Dark Horse parent Embracer Group of Dark Horse founder and CEO Mike Richardson, who was replaced by Jay Komas as interim CEO in March (see “Richardson Ousted“). Additional turmoil is also likely resulting from the planned spin-off of Dark Horse along with the Lord of the Rings, Tomb Raider, and other IPs into Fellowship Entertainment, a new publicly traded company, later this year (see “Embracer to Spin Off“).
The union has asked interim CEO Jay Komas for voluntary recognition by June 3; if the company does not recognize the union, the group will petition the National Labor Relations Board for an election.
If the union is recognized voluntarily or wins an election, Dark Horse would become the third comic publisher with a union affiliated with the CWA. Workers at Image Comics (based in the Portland, Oregon metro area along with Dark Horse) voted to organize in 2022 and ratified their first contract in 2023 (see “Image Comics Union Ratifies Contract”). Seven Seas Entertainment voluntarily recognized a union in 2022 (see “Seven Seas Recognizes”). CWA has also been active in the gaming industry, where it organized workers at Paizo, Inc. (see “Paizo Employees Form Union”), and Wizards of the Coast (see “Union Organized at Wizards of the Coast“).
CWA Local 7901 President Meg Ward noted the trend in her statement accompanying the announcement. “Dark Horse Workers United was formed because of the love Dark Horse employees have for their work, their colleagues, and the comic book industry,” she said. “Dark Horse Workers United looks forward to joining their fellow unionized workers at Image Comics and Seven Seas Publishing in bringing the labor movement to the comics industry, ensuring that comics publishers continue to thrive.”
In a social media post, the union stressed that it was not asking for a boycott of Dark Horse, and urged supporters to, “…continue to buy your single issues, collected editions, manga, etc. at this time.”
Source: ICv2
