Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: CBWU, Comic Book Workers United, image comics, union
Image Comics Issues Statement After Union Vote By Staff
Image Comics has issued the following statement regarding yesterday's news that staffers at Image Comics had voted with a supermajority to unionise and had founded the Comic Book Workers United union.
- "Image has always believed in the fair and equitable treatment of staff and has always strived to support employees to the best of our company's ability with regard to their employment."
This is not Image Comics recognising the union, and indeed seems to suggest that they are doing fine without. The goals as stated by Comic Book Workers United seemed to indicate some disquiet in that regard between employees and publisher. Bleeding Cool has questions in with the Comic Book Workers United, but goals seem to define issues that staff have had at Image Comics. That potentially may include:
- A lack of salary and workload transparency.
- Low staff morale and overwork.
- A lack of communication regarding publisher priorities.
- Lack of procedures laid out for duties.
- New positions not opened up to current staff before the public.
- Remote working opportunities being withdrawn and a lack of compensation for supplies used when remote working.
- Too many mistakes in production as a result of overwork.
- A lack of diversity in staff and management.
- The publication of work by problematic creators.
We also noted previous support for workers to unionise at Amazon from one of Image's partners. It is also notable that issues expressed here have also been expressed to Bleeding Cool by those at publishers such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW, and Boom, especially the increased workload and lack of communication. Image Comics may be the testing ground for a union with lots of room to expand. Bleeding Cool will be following the emergence of this new union, and what it means for the rest of the comics industry.