Independent music company Secretly Group has voluntarily recognised the newly formed Secretly Group Union.
First publicly revealed on Tuesday (March 23), Secretly Group Union is formed of workers from Secretly Group (which encompasses the labels Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, and Dead Oceans), Secretly Distribution, Secretly Publishing, Numero Group, and Ghostly International. Announcing their intentions to unionise, a statement shared by the workers said: "Our enthusiasm for the culture in which we work can lead to exploitation in ways endemic to the creative industries: poor wages, inadequate benefits, lack of work/life boundaries, gatekeeping that obstructs professional development, and an absence of initiatives that address systemic race and gender inequality."
In a statement, Secretly Group agreed to recognise the union and work with its representatives, making it one of the first recognised unions of its kind within an independent record label group.
Secretly Group’s statement says: "Today, Secretly sent a letter to OPEIU, Local 147, to work toward recognising the Secretly Group Union. There are steps still to be worked out, but we share the Union’s goal of voluntary recognition, and we are working to that end.
"Put simply, this decision is an extension of our mission and core values. Just as we work to empower our artist and label partners, we want to empower our employees: collaboratively, openly, in full recognition of our competing priorities and our shared goals, both. More to the point, our employees have taken this progressive step to empower themselves in partnership with us. We applaud this effort and we welcome this renewed opportunity for that partnership.
"Every company has room to improve, but it is always difficult to hear that there are people within the company who are unhappy, that there are issues that may be unaddressed or out of view. But we hope that this union effort speaks to their belief that our common ground — love for the work we do, and for the music and culture we share with the world — is truly and deeply shared. That they feel they can effect this change here, and that together we can be this bellwether for the industry, is heartening.
"Our employees are smart, innovative, creative and dedicated. We have no doubt that there will be exciting, unexpected ways that this will challenge us, on all sides. But we are also confident that this is a positive step for our company and the industry writ large, and it is with this in mind that we look forward to recognition and collective bargaining with the Secretly Group Union."
Responding to the company’s statement, union representatives described it as "a massive step toward a better future for all at Secretly Group and the music industry at large."
