On April 1, about 20 workers at Half Price Books in Greenwood, Ind., joined UFCW Local 700 for a better life. These new members joined our union family because they wanted to continue to have opportunities to hone their craft, protect their seniority, and improve their benefits.
The hard-working booksellers at Half Price Books in Indiana are the latest bookstore workers to join the UFCW. They learned about organizing victories in Coon Rapids, Roseville, St. Paul, and St. Louis Park, Minn., with UFCW Locals 663 and 1189 and reached out through social media to begin organizing at their store, too. After the victory in Indiana, workers launched their national Half Price Books Workers United campaign with assistance from the Digital Department.
Indiana Half Price Books workers stood together to win their union election and look forward to the next steps of negotiating their first union contract.
“Once we saw the Minnesota HPB booksellers organize and go public with their union campaign, we saw that it was possible and knew that it was an amazing opportunity to organize ourselves,” said Michael White, a bookseller at Half Price Books. “Our election win means we now have that ability to meet our employers on equal footing and negotiate for better wages, expanded benefits, and all the little things that we think would improve our jobs and our lives.”
“We are looking forward to negotiating a first contract for our newest members from Half Price Books,” said UFCW Local 700 President Joe Chorpenning. “No matter if you work as a food and grocery professional, as a professional bookseller, or in other service to our community, UFCW Local 700 is committed to fighting with you for a better life.”
The UFCW continues to build momentum for bookstore workers across the country to unionize for better jobs. In addition to workers at Half Price Books in Indiana and Minnesota, the UFCW also represents workers at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C., who are members of UFCW Local 400; Greenlight Bookstore and Yours Truly stationery workers in Brooklyn, N.Y., who are members of RWDSU/UFCW Local 1102; and McNally Jackson and Goods For The Study stationery workers in New York City, who are members of the RWDSU/UFCW.