The official Twitter account of The United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S), the worker’s union of Seven Seas Entertainment, announced on June 24, 2022, that Seven Seas has agreed to voluntarily recognize UW7S based on a majority card check.

Following the recognition, there would no longer be a need to conduct a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election, and would pave the way for a more expedited path to bargaining a first contract, according to UW7S.

“At a time when many employers continue to fight the unionization of their employees, we appreciate that Seven Seas decided to respect the voices of the majority of staff and recognize us. We look forward to developing a mutually beneficial relationship and reaching a collective bargaining agreement in the near future,” the tweet read.

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🧭–MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT–🧭
UW7S is happy to announce that Seven Seas has agreed to voluntarily recognize us as the union based on a majority card check. This decision by Seven Seas eliminates the need for an NLRB conducted election and will pave the way for a more expedited path pic.twitter.com/BXcV0V8pbf

— United Workers of Seven Seas (@_UW7S) June 24, 2022

In a statement released on Twitter in late May 2022, the workers of Seven Seas Entertainment revealed that they had formed a workers union, named the ‘United Workers of Seven Seas (UW7S),’ as they found themselves overworked, underpaid and inadequately supported among other workplace difficulties.

The United Workers of Seven Seas stated that they wanted to negotiate better working conditions for both Seven Seas employees and the many freelancers who are employed by Seven Seas Entertainment.

The union is working towards achieving the following goals;

• Healthcare, paid leave, & pension benefits.
• Paid time off, vacation, & holiday breaks.
• Increased wages & transparent increase structure.
• Reasonable workloads, no more crunch.
• Secure employment status for all.
• Protections & benefits for freelancers.
• Clearly defined job roles & organization chart.
• Training materials & onboarding.
• A robust scheduling & admin department.
• Management training for all managers & supervisors.
• An end to exclusivity & anti-freelance contracts.
• Anti-harassment/discrimination policies & process for submitting grievances.
• Bonuses & vendor gifts.
• Reimbursement for costs.
• Inter-department communication.
• Increase staff for overburdened departments.

Seven Seas Entertainment had earlier refused to voluntarily recognize the union.

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Seven Seas Entertainment is an American publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original English-language manga, but now publishes licensed manga and light novels from Japan, as well as select webcomics.

This is not the first time the employees in a the anime-manga industry have complained about being underpaid. Recently, a string of voice actors had come to fore asking Crunchyroll to improve the wages that are provided to voice actors for their work.

Source: Twitter.