Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits
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@poisonedbite said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
I'd prefer them unionizing to provide better translations...without their garbage localization and censorship.
If anything i can see this getting worse if the staff responsible push for a union.
Though at least it would mean they don't go migrating to other places, limiting the damage.
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Hello,
Just here to remind everyone about what the current topic is about, the unionization of Seven Seas Employees, not the previously discussed (and closed) Seven Seas censorship.
Thank you
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R Rahul Balaggan referenced this topic on
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@WaterDweller said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
Source:
https://twitter.com/_uw7s
https://uw7s.squarespace.com/Thoughts?
Translation in general shouldn't be corporatized so if unions work successfully to kill off their industry (yet again) then it's for the better. (In general, unions in the modern day and age are only useful for killing off their industries.) Translation should be treated like authorship and should be a partnership between the original author and the translator. (Overlocalization/censorship are side-effects of a poor or non-existant author-translator relationship.)
Ideally I'd love to see translations have to compete against each other so that way we can quickly expel people who try to insert their own words and thoughts into the translation, in effect creating things that were never there.
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@mlindner said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
@WaterDweller said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
Source:
https://twitter.com/_uw7s
https://uw7s.squarespace.com/Thoughts?
Translation in general shouldn't be corporatized so if unions work successfully to kill off their industry (yet again) then it's for the better. (In general, unions in the modern day and age are only useful for killing off their industries.) Translation should be treated like authorship and should be a partnership between the original author and the translator. (Overlocalization/censorship are side-effects of a poor or non-existant author-translator relationship.)
Japanese corporations would absolutely refuse to cooperate with this model. They want their authors to interact with foreign agents (companies, translators, etc) as little as possible.
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@saffire said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
@mlindner said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
@WaterDweller said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
Source:
https://twitter.com/_uw7s
https://uw7s.squarespace.com/Thoughts?
Translation in general shouldn't be corporatized so if unions work successfully to kill off their industry (yet again) then it's for the better. (In general, unions in the modern day and age are only useful for killing off their industries.) Translation should be treated like authorship and should be a partnership between the original author and the translator. (Overlocalization/censorship are side-effects of a poor or non-existant author-translator relationship.)
Japanese corporations would absolutely refuse to cooperate with this model. They want their authors to interact with foreign agents (companies, translators, etc) as little as possible.
Oh I realize. That doesn't change me from wanting it however.
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@mlindner said in Seven Seas' staff unionizing to improve working conditions, wages and benefits:
Translation should be treated like authorship and should be a partnership between the original author and the translator. (Overlocalization/censorship are side-effects of a poor or non-existant author-translator relationship.)
Ideally I'd love to see translations have to compete against each other so that way we can quickly expel people who try to insert their own words and thoughts into the translation, in effect creating things that were never there.
How do you anticipating this working out when the original author doesn't wish to participate (e.g., wishes to remain secretive about their work) or gives a dismissive "interpret it as you see fit" to the translator?
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all too often translation (and dubs of translated anime) is a 'race to the bottom'. Some places of employment spend a lot of effort to pay as little as possible, and sacrifice quality for cost savings (like avoiding California for recording talent, and moving production to Texas, where the Screen Actors Guild has no teeth.) I believe that if professionals are treated/paid as professionals - (i.e. publishers having to pay better rates) more talented folks would be willing to work in the field and quality will improve. How many translators just don't bother with LN work because the pay isn't good and there isn't job security?
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https://twitter.com/_UW7S/status/1540415872745062400
UW7S is happy to announce that Seven Seas has agreed to voluntarily recognize us as the union based on a majority card check. This decision by Seven Seas eliminates the need for an NLRB conducted election and will pave the way for a more expedited path to bargaining a first contract. At a time when many employers continue to fight the unionization of their employees, we appreciate that Seven Seas decided to respect the voices of the majority of staff and recognize us. We look forward to developing a mutually beneficial relationship and reaching a collective bargaining agreement in the near future.
Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
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@myskaros Good on them!
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@myskaros wow, didn’t expect that. Bravo Seven Seas!!
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There is a new department thst seems to be popping up in publishers of literature called sensitivity readers oversight. Just another tack on for censorship. I see unionization incitivisng bad actors in the translation industry continue bad practices of localization and censorship. Unionization isn't necessarily a bad thing but UD unionization laws are very skewed. Once a company unionizes, it becomes very hard to fire the corrupt and bad actors. Modern unions are also heavily influenced by lobbyists. I think the best example is what we see from the farmers union guild thst is supposed to speak for farmers such as right to repair their own tractors but then get money from lobbyists to vote against right to self repair laws.
For the translation industry I see unionization may enough people who want to translate as best as possible to be incentivized to keep up the good fight. But it's also a double edge sword, where the bad actors can keep their jobs and it becomes even harder to fire those thst enter the industry out of malice and purposely piss off the fan base.
As for seven seas I think them unionizing is a mistake as they are heavily embedded with corruption and it's in 2nd most troubled state, California.
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9 months later and we just decided to go full on politically driven post.
The topic will now be locked.
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R Rahul Balaggan locked this topic on
