diff --git a/zcutil/release-notes.py b/zcutil/release-notes.py
index bccabcaac..47f234906 100644
--- a/zcutil/release-notes.py
+++ b/zcutil/release-notes.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ def document_authors():
 def generate_release_note(version, filename):
     print "Automatically generating release notes for {0} from git shortlog. Should review {1} for accuracy.".format(version, filename)
     # fetches latest tags, so that latest_tag will be correct
-    subprocess.Popen(['git fetch'], shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
+    subprocess.Popen(['git fetch -t'], shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
     latest_tag = subprocess.Popen(['git describe --abbrev=0'], shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0].strip()
     print "Previous release tag: ", latest_tag
     notes = subprocess.Popen(['git shortlog --no-merges {0}..HEAD'.format(latest_tag)], shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]