Workers at Secretly Group, Secretly Distribution, Secretly Publishing, Numero Group and Ghostly International form a union. In a statement voluntarily acknowledging the partners and senior management of Voluntary Recognition, the Secretly Group Union set out their reasons for organizing with the International Union of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU Local 174). “Our enthusiasm for the culture in which we work can lead to exploitation in ways that are endemic to the creative industries: poor wages, insufficient benefits, lack of work / life boundaries, gatekeeping that hinders professional development, and the absence of initiatives that addressing systemic race. and gender inequality. Read the full statement below.
The Secretly Group contains the independent labels Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar and Dead Oceans. In an article by Kim Kelly for Rolling clip, workers – who all asked for anonymity because of their retaliation – spoke in depth about the problems facing their workplace. “So many of us have tried to address these issues and resolve them individually, and they are not being heard,” said one of the organizers. “There was a point where you think, what are the alternatives here? What is our other option than to come together and plead for ourselves, and to make sure we have the support and the power to do so? ”
In its mission statement, the union criticized the company for ‘performative alllyship’, which they wrote ‘it is not enough if the voices of our most vulnerable employees – people with color, women and non-matching staff – are increasingly marginalized.’