Editor’s
Note: This is part two of my posts exploring forming a union in the comic book
industry. Part I can found here.
As I mentioned in
my previous post, the biggest hurdle comic book creators need to overcome in
order to form a union is that most creators are not employees, and the law
prohibits independent contractors from forming unions.
Even if they could
overcome the employee vs. independent contractor problem, there are many other hurdles
to overcome. First, the political climate for forming unions seems to be at a
low. Union membership has been declining for decades.[1]
Additionally, many states are passing laws to further weaken unions, and a
recent U.S. Supreme Court decision declaring mandatory union dues to be
unconstitutional dealt another crippling blow (See Janus v. AFSCME, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf).
Furthermore, employers generally do not like their workforce to be organized
into a union, and, historically, will attempt to prevent it. All of these
factors contribute to the difficulties employees would face in an attempt to
form a union.
Secondly, previous
attempts to form a comic book union have been unsuccessful. In the late 1970s,
a group of well-known creators explored organizing a union. The Comics Creators
Guild featured Neal Adams, Chris Claremont, Paul Levitz, Len Wein, Steve Ditko,
Marv Wolfman, and many more. After having several meetings to establish a goal
for the nascent Guild, even going so far as to draft contract language and
suggest page rates, the effort ultimately didn’t lead anywhere.[2]
Even though many
comic book creators bemoan their working conditions and agree a union would be
helpful, getting enough people together to agree on the union and its platform
can be challenging. This is partially what happened with the Guild in the late
1970s, and that was when most of the comics in the U.S. were published in New
York. In today’s comics industry, publishers and creators are spread throughout
the United States and the world, and getting enough agreement to start a union
would be difficult, if not impossible.
Additionally, two
important questions would need to be addressed: What types of work would be
covered, and which companies would be the “employer” in this situation? To
address the first question, it seems obvious most people who support a union
would want to see the work performed for DC and Marvel be unionized, and most creators
would also want other work-made-for-hire jobs for publishers covered. So, it
would be safe to assume that working on licensed properties for publishers,
where the publishers retain all intellectual property rights, should be
covered.
I doubt most
people would expect creator-owned projects to be covered by union rules, even
though it might be nice to use union rates as a starting point for evaluating
fair page rates. However, by not applying union rules to creator-owned projects
and applying them primarily to work-made-for-hire gigs, some of the works put
out by IDW, Dark Horse, Boom! Studios and similar publishers could be
covered by union rules while other works might not. This obstacle can be
overcome with clarification, but it does lead into the second question of which
publishers should be considered “employers.”
Again, as above,
most creators would want Marvel and DC to be considered an employer for union
purposes. Since almost all of the books they publish are work-made-for-hire,
and the creators do not have any ownership interest in the books they create
for Marvel or DC, this is an easy dividing line.
Furthermore, if
we’re using work-made-for-hire books as the dividing line, then it is easier to
categorize which other publishers should be considered employers, and when they
should be considered employers. If the publisher produces work-made-for-hire
books, and the creators do not retain any ownership rights, then that publisher
should be considered the employer. If a publisher only distributes
creator-owned work and does not have an ownership or otherwise controlling
interest in the work, then they should not be considered an employer.
While a comic book
union sounds great, and would likely help improve the wages and working
conditions for comic book professionals, it faces major hurdles in getting
started.
Part III of this
series will address my final thoughts on the issue.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/u-s-labor-unions
[2] See The
Comics Journal, No. 42 for a comrephensive look at these discussions.
