On Monday, the United Auto Workers, Local 2110 petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to allow employees at Abrams Books to vote on whether to unionize. Employees who would be eligible to vote include editors, publicists, marketers, production managers, designers, and managing editors, as well as sales, distribution, mailroom, IT, and finance staffers at the publisher.
Organizers behind the Abrams union drive cited the publisher’s history of low wages as one essential reason for wanting to unionize. According to a UAW release, entry-level salaries for employees at the Big Five publishing houses have topped $50,000/year since a major strike by HarperCollins workers in 2023, while entry-level salaries at Abrams remain at $40,000/year. Organizers also cited a lack of job security and the need for greater transparency in the Abrams workplace as reasons to unionize.
“The work we do at the company is essential. Without our labor, Abrams couldn’t publish any books,” said Sarah Robbins, an associate editor who has worked at Abrams for five years. “We want to be heard and treated with respect, which includes fair wages and better job protections.”
Courtney Code, a senior editor who has worked at Abrams for 10 years, added: “At a time when book bans are on the rise, I am so proud to work in publishing alongside the most creative, collaborative, and hardworking people I have ever met. Through unionizing, we can protect our jobs at Abrams, empowering us to continue this essential work.”
According to an Abrams spokesperson, the company’s management has been made aware of the UAW request to the NLRB for a unionization vote, but has no comment.
Abrams was founded in 1949 and publishes art and illustrated books, graphic novels and comics for adults, as well as children’s books, including the bestselling Diary of A Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. It publishes about 250 titles annually and has about 3,000 titles in print.
UAW Local 2110, which bills itself as a union for “technical, office, and professional workers,” also represents employees at HarperCollins (the sole Big Five publisher to have a union), the New Press, and the Asian American Writers Workshop, as well as workers at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and Columbia University.
