Union employees at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn unanimously ratified a new contract on March 13, as did workers at the stationery store next door, Yours Truly, Brooklyn. Both stores are owned by Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo, and Greenlight’s workers have been unionized since 2021.
Among its features, the new contract guarantees union members annual raises in pay amounting to 11% over the three-year term of the contract; an increase in the minimum hiring rate as well as other incentives for additional skills; and two more paid holidays. The contract also ensures that the company will pay 5% more of the cost of healthcare insurance each year, while employee contributions will remain the same.
Owen Watson, a Greenlight bookseller who is a union steward and member of the bargaining committee, said that the contract "represents our members' priorities, which were first and foremost higher wages." The contract, he continued, is another step "to alleviate the unacceptable insecurity of minimum wage jobs with no benefits. We must raise the floor, and one of the best outcomes of all of this is knowing our win will help establish higher benchmarks for the industry as a whole."
Maritza Montañez, a buyer at Greenlight who is also a union steward and member of the bargaining committee, said she believes the new contract will decrease turnover, make better use of booksellers' skillsets, "and ultimately benefit the entire company as well as our customers and community.”
Stockton-Bagnulo told PW in an email that she and the managers of the two stores that she owns “are delighted that Greenlight Bookstore and Yours Truly Brooklyn union employees have unanimously ratified the contract we worked together to create. This represents a bit of a leap of faith for us as a company in terms of the resources we have committed, but we are hopeful and confident that when employees can worry less about making ends meet, they are free to engage more deeply with the work of the bookstore that we all love, so that everyone thrives.”
The union members were represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 1102 and follows agreements reached this month with employees at four Barnes & Noble locations.
