Dark Horse just moved to the lead of the Comics Chaos Derby. On Friday rumors began to swirl that there had been layoffs in the IT and warehouse departments, and now Zach Rabiroff at TCJ has a comprehensive report:
Just over a week after Dark Horse Comics agreed to voluntarily recognize Dark Horse Workers United as an employee union, Dark Horse Workers United and its parent union, the Communication Workers of America, sent a cease and desist letter to Dark Horse management on June 11 claiming “sudden actions against the workforce that we believe violate the status status quo of operations until we negotiate a contract.”
According to two Dark Horse employees, the cease and desist letter comes in response to Dark Horse management’s decision to terminate the employment of 9 Dark Horse staff members in the IT and operations departments.
Dark Horse also released a statement to TCJ:
Dark Horse is currently undergoing a long planned strategic transformation to ensure our future stability and success in an ever-evolving market. We are making the necessary business adjustments today so that we can continue to serve our creators and fans for the next 40 years and beyond.
Regarding our staff’s move to organize, we remain fully committed to the voluntary recognition of DHWU. We welcome input from CWA and DHWU as we believe that the most productive way to address any concerns is through direct, good-faith dialogue. Our door remains open, and we look forward to working collaboratively with union leadership to build a sustainable future for our company and all of its employees.
But there is more to the story, including Dark Horse’s impending move from its offices – which are owned by founder and former CEO Mike Richardson, who was forced out of the company earlier this year.
The proposed layoffs include three people in IT and six in the warehouse, with some employees notified of upcoming layoffs on June 10th, just days after Dark Horse management voluntarily recognized the Dark Horse Workers Union on June 3rd.
There is a lot of back and forth in Rabiroff’s reporting, but the shorter version is that although Dark Horse management was planning layoffs prior to the unionization, layoffs must now be part of the arbitration process between the union and the company.
Based on many conversations with past and present Dark Horse employees over the years, they all expressed the opinion that Dark Horse has a huge staff, much larger than publishers who put out a similar number of books. Some of those workers were involved with the retail end of the company, including both the shuttered TFAW.com and the soon-to-close brick and mortar Things from Another World stores.
I’ve been told many times that as Dark Horse parent Embracer Group underwent layoffs in most of their units, it was only a matter of time until the budget cuts hit Dark Horse. There were a handful of layoffs last year, but nothing sweeping.
However, with Mike Richardson no longer in the picture, everyone expected more layoffs to hit; the unionization effort, which took five years to organize, has may goals, but making sweeping staff cuts a lot harder to implement must have been one of them.
That said, even a union can’t prevent layoffs, as Paizo proved last week. While everyone was celebrating the win in Dark Horse voluntarily recognizing the union – and a surprisingly gracious statement from interim president Jay Komas – the reality was very different, DHWU spokesperson Riley VanDyke told TCJ.
“[Management is] enjoying their good publicity, but behind the scenes every step of the process has been (and continues to be) like pulling teeth,” VanDyke said. “While they have signed the VRA, and we do have a union now, their actions lead us to believe that they do not intend to work with us and negotiate in good faith.”
VanDyke was clearly on to something there.
Meanwhile, Dark Horse faces another ticking clock: they must move out of their offices of many years over the next 90 days. Mike Richardson was not only a publishing magnate, he was a real estate tycoon, at least in Milwaukie OR, where he owns a large number of buildings, including those where Dark Horse has its offices. He now plans to open a pop culture museum in the space formerly occupied by the TFAW warehouse, its holdings largely assembled from his own vast collection of comics and movie collectibles.
While the last minute timing of the Dark Horse unionization is not ideal for negotiating what could be a significant downsizing of the company, at least it provides a platform for negotiation. Obviously, this will continue to be a major ongoing story as one of the legendary comics publishers of the modern era enters a new phase.
