Sony Music has announced plans to shutter Minneapolis warehouse, hours before their first scheduled bargaining session with warehouse’s union, leading the workers to accuse the corporation of unionbusting, Pitchfork reports. Kings Road Merch acts as a supplier for punk luminaries including Rancid, Descendents, Dropkick Murphys and Converge, and the workers there recently unanimously voted to unionize on May 11, citing pay discrepancies and unfair contracts.
According to Pitchfork, a Sony representative said that by the time unionization plans came to Sony’s attention, their decision to close the warehouse had been “many months in the making.” However, the representative declined to share evidence, citing ongoing negotiations with the union. On April 9, staff had formally petitioned the warehouse manager to form union under Teamsters Local 970. On April 27, Sony lawyers held their first Zoom call with Teamsters Local 970 president Chad Reichow. Sony claims that this is the first time any warehouse representative was informed of a plan to close the warehouse. According to Reichow, Sony was unable to provide a date for the warehouse closure, so he “basically took it as a bluff” and helped support warehouse staff to form the Kings Road Merch Union.
Two Kings Road employees told See/Saw that, as well as receiving low base pay, workers faced underpayment for overtime after Sony took control. A union representative shared pay stubs with Pitchfork that showed “repeated and systematic errors with regard to pay.” The issue was allegedly raised with managers and while affected staff eventually received backpay, the delays affected morale. The management was also allegedly inflexible on issues with temporary contracts, See/Saw shares. As a result of the “marked declines in working conditions” under Sony, as Kings Road Merch Union later put it, workers voted to unionize.
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