Posted by Spartacus on September 30, 2002 at 21:14:22:
Sharon has been a book seller for six years and has been told that there is a cap on her remuneration of 10 dollars per hour, related to the size and location of her store. (I notice there is however, no such cap their earnings i.e. profits).
Are we stupid enough to accept such an excuse.
The rate for the job should be the rate for the job - a lead, is a lead, is a lead.... no matter what the size of the store. B & N is a massive company with massive profits, and there should be parity of pay across the board for people who undertake the same tasks.
And 10 dollars an hour bears no relation to the work we do and the skills required to do it effectively. Moreover, it does not reflect the ever increasing workloads we are forced to undertake as staffing levels drop and drop.
I have, in the past, only come to this site intermittitently as B&N issues normally take a low priority in my busy life, but this time I am not going to go away. Our working conditions are in rapid decline and the time has come to make a stand.
Make no mistake about it, we are under attack from our employers, and that attack is being made on our pay, conditions and security.
In their frenzied scramble for higher and higher profits we are viewed as a legitimate target, and because we are fragmented and disorganized we are certainly easy prey.
You know their strategy - divide and conquer.
You know the answer - united we stand, divided we fall.
I will be contacting a union over the next few days. We need to find some way for booksellers to organize union membership away from the stores and preferably over the net at the touch of a button. And I'll be back with as much information as I can get. Regularly.
Tell everyone about this site. Spread the word. Get as many people as possible to understand how dire their work situation is becoming and the necessity for action. And get them to post information for us all to share - I have no doubt that there are many more disgruntled booksellers out there than we could possibly imagine.
It is not easy to make a stand against your employers. They hold all the cards, and none of us want lose our jobs, which for most of us are our only source of income, the very food in our mouths. It is going to take courage, determination, and stamina.
But so much is at stake. Remember, if you have no influence over your pay and conditions then you are nothing more than a slave, subject to their whims and fancies.
It is my hope that together we can bring back some dignity and respect to our working lives.
Spartacus