Employees at Quirk Books have announced via social media that 13 employees in nonsupervisory positions at the Philadelphia-based independent press have elected to form a union and join the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia, Local 38010. The NewsGuild filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on May 21, the same day the employees requested that the company’s management voluntarily recognize the union or else agree to an election. There are 22 employees total at Quirk.
Quirk organizers, per a press release, seek guarantees from management for a “supportive and sustainable work environment” with “flexible working conditions, transparency in decision-making, stable job responsibilities and workloads, and autonomy for the workers who make the company run.” The union would include workers across most facets of the business, including editorial, managing editorial, marketing, sales, publicity, operations, design, and production.
Quirk, founded in 2002 by David Borgenicht to build upon the success of The Worst-Case Scenario Handbook, which he coauthored, is best known for an unconventional list of titles that heavily features contemporary takes on classic works of literature in the public domain adapted to include horror or popular culture themes. Bestsellers include Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The company also publishes offbeat gift, lifestyle, and popular culture books. Last November, Borgenicht resumed serving as president and publisher, after Jhanteigh Kupihea stepped down, following three years as publisher and one as president as well as publisher.
In a conference call on Friday afternoon, Gaby Iori, Quirk Books publicist and marketing coordinator, and associate editor Rebecca Gyllenhaal told PW that they were inspired to unionize by publishing industry conditions “rife with long hours, low pay, and slow advancement,” as Gyllenhaal put it. “It doesn't have to be that way, and we've been inspired by the organizing drives of our peers in the industry,” she added, citing successful union drives at HarperCollins and, most recently, Abrams, as well as the other book publishing companies affiliated with the NewsGuild, including Duke University Press, Oxford University Press, and Verso Books.
“We honestly hope that more publishers follow suit,” Gyllenhaal added. “We believe that we can make the industry better for workers, authors and readers if we organize and stand together.”
Iori noted that Quirk employees already “collaborate across departments and seniority levels to work on books that we're really proud of, and we think that unionizing will only only increase that success.” Unionizing, she added, ensures that “everyone at the company has a voice and is heard. We implore [Borgenicht] to recognize us voluntarily, because we really do think that it's going to be for the good of a company that we really believe in.”
Bill Ross, executive director of TNG-CWA, local 38010, which represents the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, told PW that the union is hopeful that Quirk management “will do the right thing and hear the employees out” before voluntarily recognizing the union. “It’s a great group of employees who approached the Guild a few months ago,” Ross said. “They were able to organize pretty quickly.” He expressed confidence that “we will prevail and then bargain a contract,” adding: “Philadelphia is a union town.”
In an email to PW, Borgenicht confirmed that the petition filed by the NewsGuild with the NLRB, “triggers a process that will unfold over the next several weeks.” He added: “We intend to work cooperatively with the Labor Board through this process and will respect our employees’ rights throughout.”
An earlier version of this story contained several errors and has been updated for accuracy and clarity.
