Great profits are being made at your expense: Barnes and Noble, Inc. generated $2.4 billion in revenues and made an operating profit of $199 million in fiscal year 1997. Those actually selling the books, coffee and other merchandise in superstores saw very little of that profit. But these simple economics aren't the only reason to organize. Consider the limitations of your employee handbook and the benefits a legally-binding union contract.

The Handbook is full of "mays" and "mights" and its last page reminds the reader that nothing in the text is meant to be construed as a contract of employment. The outlined disciplinary process states that if a problem is not resolved verbally, "a written warning may be required" and "One or two of these more formal discussions might be held to provide an employee with the chance to improve and avoid dismissal." (p.18) The raise policy is left vague by the statement: "Your potential for a pay increase will be based on your performance within the company's guidelines." (p.19) Your status as a Barnes & Noble employee is made very clear, however, with the explanation of the fact that you are an at-will employee and can be fired at any time, for any reason or no reason at all. (The limitations they don't mention include prohibition of termination because of a worker's race or sex, or if she is involved in union organizing). The Handbook also states, "all terms and conditions of employment are subject to change at any time" (p.43)

Workers with a legally-binding union contract don't labor under such uncertain terms of employment. A contract spells out rights and expectations and establishes a formal grievance procedure to settle disciplinary matters and alleged violations of the contract. This process includes the right to have a union steward (a fellow employee elected by you) present at all disciplinary proceedings. Wages and raises are also outlined. The contract eliminates the at-will status of employment. And finally, because it is a legally-binding agreement, the contract must be abided by and can be enforced in a court of law (if necessary) for its duration.

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Know your rights!!
Your Employer Can Not Legally:

• Ask you if you have signed a union card.
• Ask you what you think about the union.
• Threaten, coerce, or harass you through a supervisor or fellow employee.
• Threaten you with loss of your present benefits.
• Threaten you with discharge or punishment for union activity.
• Threaten to close the facility if you form a union.
• Promise you benefits if you reject the union.
• Spy on or interfere with your union activity.
• If your employer does any of the above, let your local union know immediately. They will file unfair labor practice charges on your behalf with the NLRB.

• Provide a legally binding contract of employment that will remove your "at will" status and insure that you can not be terminated without proper legal process. As it stands now, you can be terminated for any time and for any reason or no reason. An official contract (much like those signed by managers) will provide job security. Having a union means that fairness, not favoritism rules the day. A union means management can't make up the rules as it goes along.
  
• A pay increase. Negotiated properly, a good contract will insure more pay for you. Union dues work out to approximately 13 cents per hour (in our area) and any pay increase above that will go straight into your pocket. Plus, that 13 cents gives you peace of mind and stability. The median weekly salary of unionized retail workers in 1995 was $425 while the median weekly salary of non-unionized retail workers was $325. (from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  
• Improved health care and benefits, either by joining a medical group of 1.5 million working people (as opposed to Barnes and Noble’s 25,000+ employees) or by requiring B&N to make a larger contribution to your health bill. In addition to better maternity leave and shift bonuses, unions work on behalf of their members to negotiate more days of paid sick leave, education leave, job sharing, flexible work hours, and workplace child care. Statistics prove that a significant number of employees who are union members have benefits that non-union members do without.

  see Julie White, Sisters and Solidarity Published by Thompson Educational Pub Publication date: June 1993 ISBN: 1550770454

• Union members have representatives (elected by them) to help them enforce their rights to a healthy and safe workplace and a workplace free of discrimination and harassment.
  

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  • Even company executives say that the single most important reason for poor productivity is management not doing its job. The presence of a union forces inefficient organizations to become more productive.

    Survey of 236 top executives in 95 U.S. corporations, "The Awkward Truth About Productivity," in Harvard Business Review, September/October 1982

  • Academic studies have shown that unionized companies have higher rates of productivity than non-union firms.

    Richard B Friedman and James L. Medoff, What Do Unions Do? (Basic Books:NY, 1984 ISBN: 0465091334) p.180

  • One recent study concludes that the way a company handles conflict affects productivity, not whether or not its workers are represented by a union. An agreement that a union negotiates with a company about work rules can mean a more stable production process because conflicts are resolved during the bargaining process.

    Dale Belman, "The Quality Of Labor Relations and Firm Performance" in L. Mishel and P.B. Voos, eds., Unions And Economic Competitiveness, (Armonk,NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.,1992)

  • Economists have argued for decades about the relation between unions and productivity. Much depends on how you choose to measure productivity per worker, but on the whole a unionized workplace is a more productive and efficient workplace.

    M.R. Kelley and Bennett Harrison, "Unions, Technology and Labor-Management Cooporation," in L. Mishel and P.B. Voos, eds., Unions And Economic Competitiveness, p. 251: "Among branch plants of more complex organizations, unionized operations are significantly more efficient than [plants that] have no unions."

  • Unions increase overall efficiency because there's less turnover in unionized workplaces, workers stay longer and employers spend less time hiring and training new employees.

    Labor Market Activity Survey, 1986 "56% of union members working full time had been in the same job for 5 or more years compared to 34% of non-union employees working full time."

  • If management and the union have a good working relationship, then productivity is higher than in most non-union environments. If the relations are hostile, then productivity is lower than in the average non-union workplace.

    Freeman and Medoff, What Do Unions Do? p. 165

  • It's easier to be a bad manager when your employees dare not complain.

    Thanks to Mary Cornish & Lynn Spink for this information from their book Organizing Unions ISBN: 0929005554

  
  
  

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  What about initiation fees and union dues?
  
  When you are organizing a union, there is no initiation fee. Initiation fees are charged to those who are hired after a contract goes into effect. This fee is set by members of the local union. If you don't like the contract, you can turn it down.
  
  Minimum dues are set by the Union's International Constitution. Local union bylaws provide that members set their own dues. You don't pay dues until after a contract goes into effect. So it doesn't cost you anything until you have a contract that has been approved by a majority of the union members where you work.
  
  
  After you have achieved recognition of your union from your employer, the steps to getting a contract are as follows:
  
  
  • 1. A contract proposal meeting is called. At this meeting you and your fellow employees decide what you want and what you will ask from your employer.
    
    
  • 2. Company and union representatives meet and negotiate on proposals.
    
    
  • 3. When the union representatives have tentatively agreed on the terms of a contract, or the employer has made a final offer, a contract ratification meeting is called.
    
    
  • 4. At the ratification meeting employees consider the company's offer and vote by secret ballot whether to accept or reject it. You have the final say on everything that is negotiated.
    
    
  • 5. If a majority vote to reject a contract, they can either send their negotiators back into bargaining or vote to take strike action against their employer to enforce their demands.

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  Employers will say almost anything to keep workers from organizing unions. When workers join together they acquire the power to make their workplaces more democratic and improve their wages and benefits. So, you can expect resistance, misinformation and maybe even lies. There is a huge management consulting industry dedicated to busting unions and stopping organizing campaigns. Others who have organized have advice to offer on the specifics of what you are likely to hear:
  
  
  • A union is a third party that will disrupt the 'special relationship' between management and employees. We're a family here and don't need interference.
    A union is an organization with resources available for the use of working people. Still, it is not something 'brought in from outside' but is primarily a relationship between workers. Workers joined together are the union. The union is the people who belong to it. Taking the "you" out of unions is a ploy often used by employers. They want you to see the union as outsiders. They want you to think of the union as a product you are considering buying rather than a right which you have to improve yourself. It is romantic but wrong to pretend that workers and management are one big happy family until a union comes along. Our free-market economy is a zero-sum game in which more wages, benefits and power for workers means less for management and shareholders. Unions did not create this division but exist to make it more fair. The "outside" influences that worry an employer most are employees not only gaining power to make effective demands, but also gaining the power to back them up.
    
    
  • Unions cause strikes. Unions force workers out on strike. Unions only know how to solve workplace disputes with strikes.
    Union workers do sometimes go on strike, but only with good reason and after a strike vote (with 67% approval) has been taken. 99% of contracts are negotiated without a strike. In fact, one purpose of a union is to make the relationship between workers and the company more predictable. For example, a typical union contract establishes a grievance procedure to resolve workplace disputes without favoritism, arbitrary treatment, misplaced blame and unearned disciplinary action. If you do need to strike and vote to do so, you have the resources and power made available by other members of your union to win. (Amazingly enough, strike pay in our area from the UFCW is almost identical to regular pay for Barnes & Noble Employees.)
    
    
  • Unions are rigid and don't like change
    Unions have led the way for change. For example, they helped bring in the introduction of worker's compensation (1915), the minimum wage (1920), old age pensions (1927), unemployment insurance (1935), laws on human rights (1962), medicare (1966), as well as health and safety protections (1972). Inside unions, thousands of people volunteer their time and work co-operatively to find practical, democratic solutions.
    
    
  • Unions Are A Business Like Any Other
    Unions are non-profit organizations in the business of improving the lives of working people. How many corporations can make a similar claim?
    
    
  • Big Union Bosses Only Want Your Money!
    People who talk like this have seen too many anti-union movies like "On The Waterfront"! Unions aren't that big and unions aren't run by bosses. Unions are democratic organizations led by elected officials who must work with an elected executive board. This board and its officers are responsible to members of the union. If members are not satisfied with their elected officials, they choose new ones at election time. Just try to do that if you don't like your boss! Unions are not businesses despite what corporate executives and management might want you to think. Unions collect dues to pay for services for their members like organizing, collective bargaining and servicing contracts. By law, union finances are public and their accounts must be audited. Salaries for union officers are listed in union constitutions. Just compare these salaries to the salaries of your average CEO. Union workers consider their dues a form of job insurance, a payment into a fund that puts them in a better position to demand and get what they deserve in their workplace. Fines are charged against members to preserve union's solidarity - such as discipline of scabs, which is in the interest of every member. (Just ask a union member you know when is the last time they remember anyone being fined) The strength of the labor movement is people, not money.
    
    
  • Unions are anti-democratic and corrupt.
    Corporations are actually one of the best examples of anti-democratic institutions. See our terms of employment. Non-union workers at the bottom of the corporate hierarchy have little or no say in the conditions of employment, management practices or company policies. On the other hand, union members elect their union officers which are fellow union members who can be held accountable for decisions they make. See also: Aren't all unions corrupt?
    
    
    
  • We admit that we've made some mistakes in the past, but if you give us another chance you'll see that things will be different.
    Often, management tries to stop organizing campaigns by making small adjustments in wages or getting rid of an unpopular supervisor. This is a response that comes from fear of the organizing campaign. It is not a real commitment to workplace democracy and more equitable wages and benefits. Before giving management another chance it makes more sense to give employees a first chance. Management may also hold meetings with employees to "listen" to their grievances. This is not the same as a grievance procedure. It holds no guarantee that problems will be solved as you would like them to be and does nothing to reverse the power imbalance between employers and employees. The purpose of these meetings is to get workers to blow off steam, to trick some into thinking they have a say in what happens at the workplace. Management might tell you their door will always be open, but issues like the employee stock freezeout, the at-will employee status, executives accountable only to shareholders, and utterly inadequate pay can hardly be settled this way.
    

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    Stories of great interest to any Barnes & Noble bookseller:
    
    
    • Internet Helps Drive To Organize Bookstore Labor - by Joe Ward
    • Barnes & Noble Employees Plan Union - by Tamara Chuang
    • This page shared honors for The Labor Website of the Week!
      
    • A Letter From Jason Chappell
      
    • Books In Chains - by Elisa Forgey
      
    • Drive at University Book Store, Seattle’s largest independent bookstore
      
    • Global Effort to Organize Amazon.com
      
    • Mission Statement of Amazon Workers
      
    • Amazon Reacts Swiftly to Union Campaign
      
    • Amazon vs. the Union
      
    • Powell's Bookstore Workers Vote Union Yes
      
    • Powell's Workers in Portland Achieve Key Goals with New Contract
      
    • 
      
    • Borders Belabored (from the Nation)
      
    • Steve Lopez article from Philadelphia Inquirer
      
    • Retail Worker Website
      
    • Union Busters
      
    • UFCW
      
    • Industrial Workers of the World
      
    • Borders Cyberpicket
      
    • Union Awareness Training for Borders Managers
      
    • Boycott Barnes & Noble On-line Spam
      
    • A History of U.S. Labor Law
      

    M a y - J u n e 1 9 9 7: In spite of Borders?misinformation and intimidation tactics, workers in West Des Moines and Bryn Mawr stayed focused on the issues. They knew that Borders?profits increased an estimated 53 percent in the past year, and that the company plans to open 40 new stores in 1997. But their wages, which haven’t gone up in five years, remain in the $6 to $7 range. Jacqueline Umberger, an organizer in the West Des Moines store, explained, "We wanted to be able to pay our bills. We wanted to stay at Borders. "Local 1776 UFCW President Wendell W. Young, III commented, "The pro-union sweep at Borders demonstrates that retail employees can collectively assert their rights to join a union and bargain for a decent standard of living." It began with Chicago. Now West Des Moines and Bryn Mawr workers are inspiring other Borders employees across the country. UFCW campaigns currently underway from Albany to Honolulu will rely on the Iowa and Pennsylvania victories to help develop strategies for union drives at all 157 Borders stores.

    
    

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    Last March, employees at a Philadelphia Borders launched a strong campaign to join the Industrial Workers of the World, though the staff ultimately voted it down. Then Miriam Fried -- a key organizer whom supervisors considered an excellentbookseller -- was fired. Though Borders denies it, both Friedand the I.W.W. are certain it was for union activity. The CityCouncil, by unanimous vote, has urged the store to reinstate her.
    
    Activists say Fried's case, along with local management'sintimidation, has convinced many employees that organizingcould cost them their livelihood. At the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,warehouse -- where workers voted down the union 87 to 44 theday after Des Moines voted yes -- Borders reminded workers itcould "close up and go somewhere else." Supervisors would say,"And then what would you do?" one employee told us. (Fearingfor her job, she asked that her name not be printed.)
    
    In the long run, threats and misinformation may have hurtBorders more than the union. In Chicago, says clerk andorganizer Greg Popek, the campaign "left a bad taste ineveryone's mouth," making even anti-union booksellers cynicalabout the company. So did Borders' employment of Jackson,Lewis, famous for strong-arming janitors and nursing-home staff.
    
    The victories in Des Moines and Chicago are laying the groundwork for a national network. Although Jodie Kohn ofBorders says she hasn't heard of any other mobilization efforts,employees in Albany, St. Louis, Seattle, San Francisco, LosAngeles, Honolulu and elsewhere are beginning to fight forrepresentation -- and, ultimately, a single contract for the entire157-store chain. Workers in Harrisburg and Philadelphia areplanning new elections. And Borders organizers are encouragingBarnes & Noble workers to join them, and thus unionize themajority of the country's booksellers. As Miriam Fried says,"The ultimate measure of a company's social responsibility is theway it treats its employees."

    
    
    

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    "First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew...
    
    Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out - because I was not a Communist...
    
    Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out - because I was not a Trade Unionist...
    
    Then they came for me - and there was noone left to speak out for me."
    
    Pastor Niemoeler

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    Also important is the psychological effect of the destruction of unions.It contributes to the privatization of aspirations. It helps eliminate a sense of solidarity and sympathy with others, the understanding that we are in it together and care for one another, not just ourselves. In the early days of the industrial revolution, the lively labor press protested the "new spirit of the age": "Gain wealth, forgetting all but self," a demeaning and degrading doctrine that had to be driven into people's heads with no little violence. Normal human sentiments had to be crushed; they are inconsistent with [an] ideology, which celebrates private profit as the supreme human value and denies people rights beyond what they can salvage in the labor market.
    
    -Noam Chomsky in Industry vs. Labor

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    "Sixteen months ago, my fellow workers and I were gearing up for victory in one of the most important struggles of our lives. We were in the thick of an IWW organizing drive at Borders Books that gave us our hope back just when we thought there was no way our jobs could ever improve. Instead of listing one more time all the problems we had with Borders, I want to remember for a moment how the union made us feel. It felt like a miracle.
    
    Before the union, we felt depressed and powerless. With the union, we felt like we could determine our own fate. What a joy it was to work together with trust and loyalty, planning the future of our jobs, our bookstore and our union. We could even enjoy our jobs again, feeling like we were doing our best for each other, not for the sake of some rich corporate boss who just wanted the profits we could make for him. At that point we had more excitement for the future than anger at the company. I could see it in the faces of my fellow workers: we were going to create something beautiful and glorious. It was the power of solidarity."
    
    -Miriam Fried, June 15, 1997

    
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