It’s another win for labor as United Workers of Seven Seas (UW72) has voted and ratified its first contract. The union represents the workers of Seven Seas Entertainment. The publisher voluntarily recognized the staff union in June 2022 and the employee’s first intention to union was made in May 2022. Seven Seas Entertainment is the number one independent publisher of manga, danmei, and light novels in the US.

Seven Seas has grown in the past 4 years going from 10 employees in 2018 to 40 in 2022 and with that growth came issues including working conditions.

The ratification was announced on August 29. Bargaining can take a while, so a year is not abnormally long.

UW7S is represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) who have worked with others in the entertainment and publishing industry.

As of today, @_UW7S (with the assistance of our @CWAUnion reps) have officially voted to ratify our first contract with Seven Seas Entertainment. WE did it!#isekaiispossible pic.twitter.com/QiuvxOpTSF

— United Workers of Seven Seas (@_UW7S) August 29, 2023