The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced that Barnes & Noble employees at three New York City locations have ratified their first union contracts. The agreements cover more than 200 workers across the flagship Union Square, Park Slope, and West 82nd Street locations.
"Workers at Barnes & Noble should be incredibly proud of what they've accomplished together in these historic first union contracts,” RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum said in a statement. “United in their fight for increased safety in their stores, it was their voices among others across our union that won increased protections for everyone in the industry through the Retail Worker Safety Act."
The deal comes almost two years after Union Square employees voted to join the RWDSU in May 2023. Park Slope employees unionized one month later, and Upper West Side staff filed for a union election in February 2024. Last November, the RWDSU organized a rally outside B&N's Union Square location in an effort to push the company into reaching a contract with workers by the end of the year.
The three-year agreements include wage increases, RWDSU healthcare coverage, and safety provisions. Before ratification, the minimum starting wage for new employees was 18/hr. With the ratification, it is now at $19/hr. and at the end of the three-year agreement, the minimum wage for new employees will rise to $21 per hour. Similarly, under the new terms, minimum wages for employees in other classifications will increase from $23 to $25 an hour by the end of the contract.
"Finally having a ratified contract is immeasurably meaningful," said Bear Spiegel, a bookseller at B&N Union Square. "The bargaining committee and the unit as a whole have put so much into securing our rights and that work is finally paying off."
Safety provisions in the contracts include such things as the provision of back braces and wrist guards, anti-slip mats for café areas, and seating at information desks and cash registers. The agreements also include de-escalation training, procedures for addressing customer harassment, and paid transportation during late inventory shifts.
Aaron Lascano, senior bookseller at the Union Square location, said, "When we started organizing, we were making minimum wage in unacceptable work conditions. The contract we voted on today was fought for and won by the workers of this store."
Additional contract provisions include seniority and layoff protections, job security if stores relocate, pay security during emergency closures, and the conversion of a conference room into a break room at the Union Square outlet.
The RWDSU also announced that workers at the B&N store in Bloomington, Ill., have reached a tentative agreement, with a ratification vote scheduled for March 8.
“We are very pleased to have this episode past us," a spokesperson for B&N told PW. "We can all now concentrate on improving these bookstores and getting back to bookselling.”
Union organizing has expanded to seven B&N locations nationwide. The RWDSU also represents workers at other bookstores including McNally Jackson, Greenlight Bookstore, and Book Culture, while the Strand bookstore employees are represented by UAW 2179.
This story has been updated with new information about the new wage scale.
