By Gus Saltonstall
Workers at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble are hoping for a new chapter in their professional careers at the popular bookstore.
Employees of the book retailer at 2289 Broadway, on West 82nd Street, filed for a union election on Wednesday. If successful, the Upper West Side outpost would join two other unionized New York City Barnes & Noble locations in Union Square and Park Slope.
“I care a lot about my co-workers,” Eve Greenlow, a bookseller at the UWS store, said in a news release. “I want the best for them, just as I want the best for myself. We deserve not to have to worry about affording groceries, we deserve safe levels of staffing, we deserve consistent hours, and we deserve agency over our working conditions.”
“I love selling books and am deeply passionate about the work I do,” Greenlow added. “I truly want a future at Barnes & Noble, but this will unfortunately be impossible with the conditions of the present.”
Specifically, workers at the UWS location have concerns over “job security, a lack of structure when it comes to job duties and tasks at work, and favoritism by management.”
As in the majority of unionizing efforts, workers at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble are asking the company to voluntarily recognize the union so that contract negotiations can begin immediately.
Barnes & Noble did not immediately respond to West Side Rag’s request for comment.
The Upper West Side workers are filing to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), of which local bookstores such as Greenlight Bookstore and Book Culture are already members.
While the Barnes & Noble workers have identified themselves as a union, the status does not become official on a federal level until an election with the National Labor Relation Board takes place that results in a majority of all employees voting in favor.
If successful, the union would represent around 50 eligible workers at the 82nd Street store, which would include booksellers, baristas, cashiers, maintenance, and all non-supervisory employees at the store.
“As a Barnes & Noble bookseller, I take immense pride in the role we play in our Upper West Side neighborhood and, as a company, in local communities across the country,” Lauren Champlin, an employee at the UWS Barnes & Noble said in the release. “In organizing, I want Barnes & Noble employees to receive the pay, protection, and respect reflective of the care and specialized skills each of us brings to our role.”
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I just don’t agree with this ‘We deserve not to have to worry about affording groceries, we deserve safe levels of staffing, we deserve consistent hours, and we deserve agency over our working conditions.” I don’t belive there is an “unsafe” staffing level at a bookstore. I don’t believe retails workers anywhere should be guaranteed consistent hours. Stores need to change based in customer levels, timenofnthebyear, etc. All jobs are not, and never have been, well paid. If you need to make more money develope a skill that is in more demand
Just for clarity, the “unsafe” staffing level is related to robberies, theft, and, frankly, the possibility of getting stuck under a falling bookshelf. Not saying it’s likely! Just that it’s a consideration.
Thanks for having the courage to post this comment.
Isn’t everything about proportion? Yes, if you want to earn more in this country, you go to college, grad school, and become an “expert,” or you develop technical skills in other areas, such as plumbing or electrics; however, how much should a highly trained Harvard MBA CEO, let’s say of Barnes & Noble, earn? How much should the executives earn? If their income is upwards of $5 million, or even $3 million, shouldn’t some of that money be divided among the everyday employees? How does the market determine such amounts? Should Jeff Bezos have $200 billion in the bank? Should the executives at Microsoft, Google, and other tech companies have such huge bank accounts while their lower-level employees struggle with daily bills?
You talk about the supposed excesses as if any “everyday employee” can accomplish what highly rewarded executives and entrepreneurs have done in building and running successful companies. Could you do what Bezos, Musk, Gates et al have done? Are you saying that they should have less and/or that you should have more? The former requires taking away what they rightfully earned while the latter requires giving you something you haven’t earned on your own merit. If you’re advocating for socialism, then you should also be prepared to share in the losses and travails of running a business.
We can spend all day dreaming up a Utopia were everyone from the lowest level employees to the CEOs are paid something we deem is fair. But real lofe doesn’t work that way. B&N can charge 22..99 for a certain book. If they charge more everyone will buy it online. The rent is $X, heat and air-conditioning and other expenses with the store are $Y, employee pay $Z. If they don’t sell enough books (and games and cafe food) to cover the costs plus make a reasonable profit the store will close. How much profit is “reasonable” is up to the management. They won’t be reducing their paychecks to subsidize the UWS store.
You touch on an important point, but the only way to achieve such equity is through taxation. The very wealthy are not nearly taxed enough. Yes, we have tax brackets, but the farce is that the highest and last tax bracket is at $578,000!!!! That’s it. Where is the bracket for people who make $2,000,000? The bracket for people who make $10,000,000 and higher? The rich (and I’m not talking about the couple who makes $578k) have quite a scam going.
I wholeheartedly agree that centimillionaires and billionaires should be taxed 70% or 80% because no one should have such ludicrous sums of money while their coworkers must water down the orange juice; however, there must be other ways of achieving balance, though I’m no financial wiz: Couldn’t for example, all employees share certain percentages of the profits of companies such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google? Couldn’t a billionaire CEO, let’s say, offer 50% of their $30 million dollar salary to their underlings, which would still leave them with a hefty $15 million?
While you are at it, why not 99.9%? After all, 0.1% of $1 billion is still $1 million.
After all, you determine what one “should” get paid.
Please! I was merely suggesting percentages, but there can be a concurrence of opinion on numbers. Isn’t that how civil decisions and law have been and are created?
My only beef is the huge and growing gap between the have and have-nots, and, really, how can anyone think it’s reasonable for some people to have billions upon billions while others have nothing?
Your sarcasm is wasted on me, but good try!
“I don’t believe there is an “unsafe” staffing level at a bookstore.”
But . . . are your beliefs based on actual knowledge? I’m guessing no.
I think that answer is condescending. They have a skill. It’s called book selling. You sound angry and partial. I’m sure these workers have reasons for their complaints.
Have you read a job description for a B&N bookseller, in NY? There’s a very recent one for PT staff online. The “skills” and qualifications required are that of an able-bodied 16-year-old and the $15/hour rate reflects that. Someone who is “knowledgeable about books” – whatever that means.
The commenter was simply advising them to develop/hone more highly valued skills. It’s a viable alternative to unionizing.
Perhaps a rise in your taxes to pay more for medicaid, food stamps, rent vouchers. Okay?
And are you working under the same conditions?
Some people do like retail work. And some like books.
Of course you can “protest” otherwise. Just stay away and shop Amazon. See, a simple solution.
Selling books inside a store, harsh working conditions…
I worked at a bookstore. We found found blood, urine, feces, and worse on the shelves, on the floor, inside the books and magazines.
And while most of the customers were lovely, I was surprised at the amount of vitriol – because we couldn’t locate “the blue book that was by the door about 2 years ago” or because we were out of a book that their child needed for a report due the following day. (assigned weeks ago) Or because we closed early on Christmas eve.
Or because “It’s cheaper on Amazon”
Amazon is not paying for NYC rental prices, heat/lights/airconditioning/ etc – and employees who spend a lot of time figuring out the title and author of the book you wanted that “started with ‘The’ that you saw on the Today show ‘about a month ago'”..
I realize unionizing won’t change this -but yes, some of the working conditions were a bit trying – and downright unfair. We were often understaffed and expected to more than one person should (and could) be expected to do.
Amazon has mostly the same types of costs and other costs that a brick-and-mortar store doesn’t have. Amazon also rents warehouses and pays for heat/lights/hvac. It also pays for employees who work at many levels of the company to get a product to the consumer. The shift from retail employees to other sectors is significant.
Thumbs down.
Wow! Such contempt for the “little people” Is this supposed to be sarcastic?
The reality is that many employees nationwide are seeking unionization for many reasons, including liveable wages. Safety is fundamental to all jobs and the reality for workers at retailers and businesses open to the public require thoughtful staffing to ensure coverage and backup in case of emergencies.
Too much government regulation adds to the cost of doing business, especially in places like NYC where they ar endless.
Please specify the government regulations that are impacting B&N.
Bet you can’t.
Minimum wages, anything that comes out department of labor, federal, state or citywide, safety laws, item pricing regulations, plastic bag bans and other environmental issues, employer and retailer posting requirements,
state mandated training, such as sexual harassment prevention, etc. Should I go on? Did you EVER run a business?
The market will resolve this dispute. Workers are free to unionize. If they ask for too much, they will fail or the business will fail. It’s all part of the “market” and its many mechanisms to sort things out. But please, let’s not talk of “RIGHTS” because nobody has a right to work or a right to work at a certain pay or a right to receive benefits OTHER THAN those rights conveyed by law. We live in a capitalist society. There are laws to protect workers and I assume that B&N is not in violation of any of those laws. So, there are no “rights” to this and that, there is only the market. These workers are free to try to get whatever they want, there is no “right” or “wrong” to it.
If the company can’t pay a livable wage they will go under, and the next book store that opens that plans for livable wages and safe staffing levels/working conditions etc. will have a better chance at success.
Society works best when those at the top of the pyramid work for those at the bottom, not the other way around.
A working business model is exactly the opposite of what you describe.
That’s because it’s based on ethics and not finance.
Does McDonalds pay a “livable wage”? I don’t see many of them going under. Not all businesses were meant to carry family breadwinners. The market sorts it all out.
Be careful what you wish for. We regularly visited a lovely independent bookstore in Westerly RI for years. In 2022 their staff unionized. Six months after the bookstore closed. A loss for everyone.
And why was it closed? Too much cost, or for spite?
How many businesses have you opened and then closed to spite a handful of employees you can just fire on a 2-minute notice?
The economics – google Savoy Bookstore and union. Granted, it was a much smaller operation than B&N, and they (B&N)have gone through a pretty crazy cycle – often disliked when they first arrived because they were going to drive the little guys out of business, and then praised as a counter to Amazon. I’m happy to have them (and super-excited about the new Shakespeare & Co!), but I believe they are now owned by a hedge fund complex, and if their returns don’t clear whatever hurdle the funds set, like it or not, there could be some unpleasant sledding ahead. Capitalism just ain’t always fair.
If you don’t buy a book (new or used) from a “brick & mortar” bookstore (chain or stand alone) you have to buy from Amazon.
Is doing that that any better than buying from a hedge fund?
A better online option is Bookshop .org
People needlessly obsess over the structure and ownership of companies. They toss around the words corporation and hedge fund as if those should be the limiting factors when deciding where to shop. What matters is whether any of these entities can be profitable enough to employ people and contribute to the local economy.
Just to clarify — we may actually be in agreement: I do think there’s a difference between buying from Amazon and buying from a hedge- fund-owned Barnes & Noble — the latter, if you’re mobile and can walk — is better!
Maybe it is better, because at least the “hedge fund” is bringing a bookstore, a place of community and ideas, to your neighborhood, which is always nice.
lol – agreed; would much rather have a brick and mortar store in my neighborhood (and am looking forward to the arrival of the new Shakespeare and Co.!), regardless of who owns it. And yes, the real way to get things into better alignment is go back to the tax code of the 70s and much higher progressive rates; I don’t think Musk and Bezos are going to throw in the towel because they’re taxed at 70% of their last few hundred million of earnings!
In an ideal world would be great to have high wages, ample benefits for bookstore employees but this is a low margin precarious business to begin with and saddling the bookstore with a lot more rules and expenses is a sure way to have the store eventually close costing 50 jobs and the community a bookstore.
How low margin? And what is CEO and other management pay?
Seems “low margin” is always management’s battle cry.
And they will just raise their prices, which can be with for a nominal amount, if they don’t typically raise management pay, and by a larger amount.
Aren’t book prices generally printed right on the book? Admittedly I know nothing about the business but is it that easy to raise the prices?
When those seeking to unionize can perform at the same level of competency and business management skills, they can point to the CEO and upper-level management. They often have a lot to complain about what others are making when they’re nowhere close to having the same level of expertise or commitment. In addition to not having the chops to run a business, too many workers want to share in the profits but not the losses.
I agree that individuals deserve agency over their working conditions.
But the way to accomplish this is to find a higher-paying job ELSEWHERE, with better benefits and working conditions.
Seems unrealistic and delusionally entitled to assert that you only want to do a certain job, and only on YOUR terms.
Vote, but vote with your feet. Make the marketplace work for YOU.
What seems “unrealistic and delusional” is you thinking that it’s so easy for a worker to get another job! And there are people who love their jobs but not the working conditions and these people are clearly ensconced in their profession and want to remain in the job they’re in — and that’s called loyalty not delusion!
Not being able to easily get another job is just anothrr way if saying th markets will sort this out. If jobs aren’t readily available people earn less than they’d like to because it is better than earning nothing. They don’t get to make more because they love their job. Plenty of people would love to be musicians or actors but can’t pay the bills that way so they take a different job.
This is either anti-union or a sign of giving up.
Thumbs up!
My father had a union job with the city and his department was filled with back biting. I also had a union job and it was the same thing, back biting. Don’t be tempted by unions; the toxicity it breeds in the workplace is not worth it! Find a cooperative to work for instead — aka an employee owned business — if you want to see equity done in a sustainable way.
Human Resources professional here…worked in both union and non-union companies….back biting happens in all environments. It’s human nature.
Why does every single issue have to become a battle of the righteous vs the demons? When I was young, I was pro-union, and now that I’m older, I think the issue is “complicated”. I am still a rabid “litte guy” fan (I’d actually like to see a very steep billionaire tax) and always for the underdog in society. But I have realized that these issues are complicated and I respect the positions of others that have differing views from my own. There are very few demons out there, 99% of our country’s population are decent citizens who simply disagree on how to resolve problems, much like a husband and wife might disagree on an approach to best teach responsibility to their children.
What is the point of us arguing about the propriety of B&N workers’ claims without knowing the numbers (CEO pay and profit)? NONE, that’s the answer. But does that stop us? Of course not. Like everything today, such issues are nothing more than internet vehicles to make others feel bad about their beliefts. The name for it is virtue-signalling and it happens on both sides. The adults in the room, however, have realized that almost all of these issues are complicated (immigration, health choices/vaccine safety and pharma lobby, gun rights for self-protection, the teaching of sexual orientation in schools, etc.) and require a lot of thought to best resolve. Yeah, it might feel cathartic making someone feel like a monster because of their beliefs, but just remember that you aren’t moving the ball a single inch toward the goalline.
Have their been any changes to Hex & Co, either for employees or customers, since they voted to unionize last Fall?
This bookstore will be missed.
Businesses usually announce massive layoffs and branch closings after unionization. These aren’t massive car companies. This is not sustainable for a typical company. This usually backfires.
Years ago, I saw a Barnes & Noble worker manning the Nook kiosk at the 66th St. location. I wanted to go up to him and tell him he was helping to do away with his job. Sure enough, in a few years Barnes & Noble closed that location.
“Job security” went out the window when the Kindle & Nook were invented. Same way record stores went out of business when streaming became the norm. Unfortunately tech advancements always replaces workers…
The 66th street store closed because Century 21 outbid B&N for the lease.
From the NY Times article in 2010
“It has been a bumpy year for Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest book chain, with 720 stores. Sales and store traffic have suffered as the book business has shifted online; Amazon has held its early lead in the e-reader war; and early this month, Barnes & Noble put itself up for sale and is now in the midst of a battle for control of the company with Ronald W. Burkle, the billionaire investor.”
Yes, their lease was up but the writing was on the wall. Do you really think it made any sense for Barnes & Noble to continue operating in such a big space with a huge overhead while they were in trouble?
Amazon was eating their lunch!
Technology advancements shift work from one group of employees to another. What’s lost in the retail sector shows up in the tech sector.
Yes, you’re right. I forgot about all those Amazon warehouse workers hired to ship products that brick & mortar stores used to sell. In the future robotics will replace all of them as well.
I totally support this effort. Having a union is not only about a living wage and benefits, it is also about the ability to speak out about working conditions and other observations that people on the job see and experience , without the fear of being fired. A union contract protects these workers through a grievance mechanism. As much as would like to think that all bosses and supervisors are fair, often they are made to do the bidding of the major institution that Barnes and Nobles is.
I hope that the workers succeed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/opinion/part-time-workers-usa.html
It’s Not Just Wages. Retailers Are Mistreating Workers in a More Insidious Way.