Employees at Secretly Group, Secretly Distribution, Secretly Publishing, Numero Group and Ghostly International form a union. In a statement asking Secretly Group partners and senior management for voluntary recognition, the Secretly Group Union outlined their reasons for organizing with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU Local 174). “Our enthusiasm for the culture in which we operate can lead to exploitation in ways typical of the creative industries: low wages, inadequate benefits, lack of boundaries between work and life, gatekeepers hindering professional development, and a lack of initiatives that impede tackling systemic races and gender inequality. ”Read the full statement below.
The Secretly Group includes the independent labels Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar and Dead Oceans. In an article by Kim Kelly for Rolling stone, employees – all of whom asked for anonymity out of concern about retaliation – spoke at length about the challenges their workplace faces. “So many of us had tried to raise these issues and resolve them individually, but they were not heard,” said a member of the organizing committee. “There was a point where you think, what are the alternatives here? What is our option other than to come together and argue for ourselves collectively, and make sure we have the support and the power to do so? “
In its mission statement, the union criticized the company for its “performing alliance”, writing that “is not enough when the voices of our most vulnerable workers – people of color, women and non-compliant workers – become increasingly marginalized.”