Labor Strife at New York's Strand Bookstore

Strand Bookstore is a New York institution, loved by city dwellers and visited by book lovers from all over the world. It has long been famous for its "18 miles of books." But, lately, the Strand is gaining a different sort of notoriety...for giving its employees the shaft.

The Strand, located at 828 Broadway at 12th Street in downtown Manhattan.

image source: http://bookmania.me

MetroFocus reported that employees at the Strand have been working without a contract since September and that the new contract being proposed would slash wages and the number of sick days and vacation days, increase employee contributions for health insurance, and incorporate a two-tier wage system that may pit older, unionized employees against newer, non-unionized employees, thus weakening the union. Also, older, higher-paid employees are being pushed out, according to MetroFocus. "That's kind of a reflection of how the business wants to go," Strand employee Chris McCallion told MetroFocus. "Shifting from knowledgeable booksellers to an expendable labor force."

To read more about the labor strife that's happening at the Strand, see the MetroFocus story below.

MetroFocus * March 23, 2012

The Strand Bookstore Struggle Continues

Chris McCallion in front his workplace,

the iconic Strand Bookstore near Union

Square. He believes a new contract pits

new and old employees against one another.

Photo courtesy of Sam Lewis

By John Farley

Last week, MetroFocus reported that many employees of the beloved Strand Bookstore believe the retailer is transforming into a worker-unfriendly, corporate-style environment. The employees’ biggest qualm was with a new contract the ownership had proposed. And yesterday, employees say the owners offered them a new version of a previous contract, which they believe would significantly reduce benefits and wages, and pit new workers against old. It looks like this dispute may intensify.

According to employees MetroFocus spoke with, The Strand has hired a large number of new non-unionized managers over the past year, which troubles the 150 or so unionized workers who stock the shelves and work the registers. But their main concern is that their contract expired last September, and both a contract proposed by the Strand’s owners in December and another just yesterday call for a two-tier wage system.

In the new contract they received yesterday, there are “some things that are more beneficial for us. The problem is that there is still a two-tier wage system,” said Chris McCallion, a Strand employee who has become somewhat of a spokesperson for the pushback against the ownership, and is collaborating with activists in the Occupy Wall Street movement toward that end.

Many union members claim the two-tier wage system is designed to produce financial disagreements between new and older employees, and weaken unions, because it stipulates new and old workers get different rates of pay, raises and benefits.

“Any kind of multi-tier system is an attack directly on young workers,” said Harrison Magee, one of the founders of Occupy Your Workplace, who has worked with The Strand employees on their negotiations. “New hires are going to be working less often, working longer hours and getting paid less.”

The Strand’s general manager, Eddie Sutton — a non-unionized employee who has been at The Strand since 1991 — told MetroFocus, “We’re working with the union as we’ve done and that contract is with the negotiating committee and the union. And that’s where it stands, and that process continues as it always has. One of the things that this has been characterized as is a dispute or a struggle, and it’s really just been negotiations on both sides — the union and the store.”

The employees also say they are still frustrated that the new contract calls for their paid sick days to be cut in half, and that it calls for a one-and-a-half-year wage freeze.

“We’re losing things for people already in the [union] membership and at the same time the people who are coming in are not encouraged to stay very long,” said McCallion. “That’s kind of a reflection of how the business wants to go, shifting from knowledgeable booksellers to an expendable labor force.”

Next week, The Strand union members will vote on whether to approve the new contract, something McCallion doesn’t think the majority of members will do. And if they reject it?

McCallion said things will “get hairy,” especially because he claims the union local has not been particularly helpful. He still hopes The Strand’s owners might be willing to offer yet another contract.

But hinting at collaborative work between Strand employees and Occupy activists, McCallion said, “We have resources available to us, where if need be we can escalate our resistance, but only if necessary. It is starting to get tight.”