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.
Three employees from the IT department have been confirmed as those to be laid off: Tyler Schaffer, Kris Raikes, and Max Schwarz. The employees were given a termination date of June 30, and were told that they would not receive severance. Schaffer, alone among the three, has been offered a contract position in place of his terminated staff role, which would not include health benefits (Schaffer has not yet decided whether to accept the offer: “It’s better than having no benefits and no pay, but it’s obviously not a tenable long-term solution,” he said.)
In the operations department, which encompasses the warehouse staff, The Comics Journal has learned the names of six employees to be laid off: Louise Mendez, Daniel Hawkins, Jen Hoff, Braddley Elmore, Steven Erickson, and Bryan McMeen. Employees in this department were given notice that the terminations would be effective 90 in days, which would coincide with Dark Horse headquarters’ previously-planned move to a new location in Portland.
The announcement of IT layoffs came in the form of a June 10 email sent to employees by Interim CEO Jay Komas, under the subject line “Changes to Warehouse and IT.” In the email, which was provided to The Comics Journal by a Dark Horse employee, Komas wrote in part:
After an extensive review of our warehouse and fulfillment operations, we have decided to move these operations to a third-party logistics provider. This shift allows us to quickly modernize our fulfillment infrastructure and create meaningful operational efficiencies, while also ensuring flexible capacity to meet the variable needs of our product pipeline. We expect the process of winding down our operations to take approximately 90 days.
Additionally, we have determined that Dark Horse's IT needs are best served through increased collaboration with the central technology team along with greater reliance on off-the-shelf technology solutions. This results in the reduction of the IT team by three, and we're grateful for everything they've built and maintained here.
We believe these changes will better position Dark Horse for the future.
At a subsequent in-person meeting convened with operations employees that same day, Komas reiterated the approximate 90-day timeline, and told employees that information about separation agreements, including any severance options, would be forthcoming in writing.
At 9:51 pm PT, employees received an email from Director of Human Resources Kate Fryrear stating:
Good evening,
We know you were expecting your separation paperwork this evening. We're still waiting on the final documents, so you can expect to receive them by tomorrow.
We didn't want you watching your inbox tonight without an update. Once your documents arrive, they will include all the details, along with the time you have to review them.
According to two operations employees, no further documents were received by the end of the day on June 11, but Fryrear sent another email at 4:40 that afternoon reading:
Good afternoon,
We wanted to reach out with an update regarding your separation documents.
As part of our ongoing transparency with CWA Local 7901, we have been communicating with the union regarding this process and are continuing to do so. As those communications continue, we plan to provide the CWA with drafts of the documents prior to distributing them to affected employees. We are currently in the process of fulfilling that step, which has delayed the timeline for getting your documents to you.
We want to make sure everything is complete and accurate before it reaches you and will follow up as soon as we have a timeline to share.
Federal regulations stipulate that the company’s status quo must remain in place during the period of initial bargaining between the union and management. In the June 10 email, Komas wrote: “It’s important for you to know that these decisions were made prior to receiving the union notice on May 26th. As such, DHWU was informed of these changes prior to entering into the Voluntary Recognition Agreement.”
According to VanDyke, however, that intended reorganization was presented to the union in general terms that did not imply forthcoming layoffs
One of the laid off employees in the IT department, Kris Raikes, described the three-hour arbitration process that led to the signing of a VRA as “brutal.” According to two employees involved in the process, there was disagreement over the composition of DHWU’s bargaining units: while management asked for three separate units, and employees wanted a single unit, a compromise was eventually reached to form two bargaining units, divided among creative and operations employees.
Both Raikes and VanDyke allege that management also made threats of retaliation during the arbitration process, indicating that at least one employee would be laid off the following Monday, June 9, if an agreement was not reached by then.
“[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.”
Reached for comment, Dark Horse management provided the following statement:
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.
The new tension comes only only weeks after the union publicly announced its formation on May 27. Dark Horse Workers United had been the result of some five years of organization, and its initial announcement cited core goals that included increased wages and greater job security, greater workplace transparency, and “a seat at the table” with regard to the company’s decision-making.
As of press time, neither Dark Horse management nor DHWU and the CWA have publicly announced the dispute, the intended layoffs, or the cease and desist letter, and Dark Horse management has not issued a reply to the union’s letter. According to Meg Ward, spokesperson for the Communication Workers of America Local 7901, the union does not plan to issue a public statement until they have formally discussed their complaints with Dark Horse management, which they hope to do in the near future.
VanDyke said that the union has not determined its next steps, but will be convening its full bargaining unit in the near future to determine the best course of action. Both the bargaining unit and the union’s volunteer organizing committee remain largely unchanged from their composition in late May, except that two members of the organizing committee, who preferred not to be named in this article, agreed to step down after being classified by management as supervisory employees not eligible for the union.
VanDyke said that the union is prepared at this point for a difficult fight. “We want this to be a really democratic solution, whatever it ends up being,” VanDyke said. “We've been trying to be very confidential and good faith in all of our negotiations. It's just we've now been shown that we're not going to get that in return, so no point in having gloves on.”
