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Dec 16 2022
Unionized HarperCollins employees are planning to rally outside the company's headquarters at 195 Broadway in Manhattan's Financial District at 12:30 p.m. on December 16, according to the union. Authors including Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, R.F. Kuang, and Molly McGhee will "co-host" the rally, the union said...
79% of literary agents who participated in a survey conducted by the Association of American Literary Agents say that they support the HarperCollins union strike. The union had previously asked agents to refrain from submitting new projects to HarperCollins until an agreement is reached...
A majority of respondents to the poll say they have changed their dealings with HarperCollins in some way as a result of the strike, from delaying deal announcements to only submitting option projects to withholding all business, including meetings, with the publisher.
Dec 14 2022
About 250 HarperCollins employees have been on strike for more than a month, fighting for better pay, union protections, and diversity initiatives. An open letter of support for the employees striking has reached 8,500 signatures according to the union. A separate letter was signed by over 500 authors, both ones represented by HarperCollins and writers who are associated with other publishers.
Some of the authors who signed include Barbara Kingsolver, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander. The authors who are published through HarperCollins expressed that they feel that HarperCollins’s refusal to negotiate in good faith has hurt their sales: “We express deep concern about the long-term impact on our books and careers if the strike continues…Your refusal to reach an agreement with the union hurts us, your creators.”
They also state that they will not be submitting new books to HarperCollins until the strike ends. More than 150 literary agents have made this same promise. The letter states, “We stand with the people who mold and champion our work and ask that they be compensated justly and fairly for their labor. Our hope is that HarperCollins will not be satisfied with meeting an industry standard that is far too low to retain top talent.”
Dec 14 2022
It’s been more than a month since Laura Harshberger, a senior production editor at HarperCollins (a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.), stopped producing children’s books and went on strike with more than 200 colleagues in New York City.
“We are not striking against our job, but for our jobs,” she told The Washington Post. “We want to work for HarperCollins, but we want to work for them with dignity, respect and fair wages.”
The striking workers — who are from the editorial, sales, publicity, design, legal and marketing departments — have three demands: HarperCollins should raise its minimum starting salary from $45,000 to $50,000; address the lack of diversity in its workforce; and provide more security for unionized workers.
In an open letter to authors and agents, HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray said the company’s current compensation offerings are consistent with peers in the publishing industry.
Workers say that is precisely the problem. “The industry has long been notorious for low salaries. But while the world has changed and the cost of living increases, publishing has not changed with it,” said David Palmer, a senior production editor at the company.
The outcome of the strike, which began Nov. 10, could go well beyond whether junior editors can afford to live in New York City, and may have a ripple effect on jobs across the publishing industry. Its impact may be seen in the quantity and diversity of books that are published for years to come, including whether a book is published because it is good, novel and unique, or whether it’s just a book that CEOs believe will make money...
“No one is doing their best work when they are worried about making rent,” said Stephanie Guerdan, an associate editor at HarperCollins. “Without a fair contract, only those who can afford to work in publishing will stay.” ...
Dec 08 2022
From an article by Rye White in n + 1 magazine:
An observer can catch HarperCollins president and CEO, Brian Murray, crossing the picket line most mornings, evenings, and lunchtimes, although sometimes he avoids us by taking the entrance through Starbucks on the corner of the building by Dey and Church. His response to the strike so far (tucked away in a since-deleted report on the company’s profits) has been characteristic of management’s approach: some people will always want more. What exactly does more look like to the workers at HarperCollins? A fair contract that guarantees union security, codifies diversity protections, and most crucially increases salary minimums from $45,000 to $50,000.
Like a lot of white-collar sectors, publishing has long been an industry guilty of exploiting the nebulous quality that bosses like to call “passion.” My colleagues and I have the jobs we do because we love books, we believe they have power and significance, and we work incredibly hard on their behalf. But anyone who’s worked in the industry—at one of the “Big Five” publishers like HarperCollins, or at a small agency whose team members can be counted on one hand—has heard lines like one leaked from an influential HarperCollins higher-up early on in the strike: if we just “stuck it out” for ten years, we could stand to make a decent living in publishing. We’ve been told that this is just how it is. The industry’s established players hardened themselves to low pay and long hours, so what’s our problem?
Claims like this ring especially hollow in an industry as demographically unbalanced as publishing, which is overwhelmingly staffed by young women on the lower levels and overwhelmingly white at all levels. Many who have “stuck it out” in publishing have had their low wages cushioned by the help of a partner’s income or support from upper- or middle-class families. But workers without the benefits of whiteness, without well-paid spouses or partners, without families who have income to spare for their expenses month after month are too often pushed out. Living in a city like New York on $45,000 is difficult and inhumane; trying to do it while battling racism and sexism on the daily is even more so. The union’s position is clear: if this industry wants to retain the love and passion it runs on, something (the corporate powers that be) has gotta give (us more money).
Nov 29 2022
More than 150 literary agents, whose clients include Danielle Jackson, V.E. Schwab and L.A. Chandlar, have signed an open letter to HarperCollins vowing to “omit” the publisher from upcoming book submissions until it reaches an agreement with striking employees.
Around 250 entry- and mid-level staff members, from publicists to editorial assistants, have been on strike since Nov. 10, with the two sides differing over wages, workforce diversity and other issues that have become increasingly prominent across the industry. No new talks are scheduled.
“While many consider publishing to be a labor of love, we agents know how quickly that labor can lead to burnout, tension, missed opportunities for advancement, and mistakes,” the letter reads in part.
“This generation of rising publishing professionals must contend with student loan debt, the rising cost of living, and the barriers inherent in working long hours without adequate compensation. These employees, many of whom bring with them the diverse viewpoints our industry lacks, have been essential to the production of the books we are so proud of.”
Nov 17 2022
The National Book Awards returned in-person for the first time since 2019 on November 16 at their usual location of Cipriani Wall Street in New York City’s financial district. Presiding over the evening’s award ceremony was author, producer, and television host Padma Lakshmi, who donned a button supporting the members of the HarperCollins Union, who were demonstrating outside the venue. Read the full story here, and view the winners on BookBrowse - link below.
Nov 17 2022
As the 73rd National Book Awards kicked off at the swanky Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, unionized HarperCollins employees took their strike to the sidewalks surrounding the venue. As guests lined up to grace the NBA's red carpet, they were greeted by HC union members who offered information on worker rights, fair wages, and buttons to show support for their cause.
Employees in the HarperCollins union have been on an indefinite strike since Nov. 10 after working without a contract since April. Negotiations with the publisher reportedly broke down over raising base pay for workers, said Local 2110 UAW president Olga Brudastova. The publisher has been radio silent since and has not initiated another round of negotiations, she added.
Nov 10 2022
Stephanie Guerdan started working in the children’s book department of HarperCollins Publishers six years ago. It was a dream job – just not a dream paycheck. The $33,500-a-year salary was well below a livable wage in New York City, but Guerdan didn’t ask for more. “I was terrified that I was not going to get that job if I negotiated,” they said. “Publishing is very much an industry where they tell you, ‘If you don’t want this, there are 500 people in line behind you who do.’”
Publishing has for decades has been known for its low pay and overwhelmingly white staff. But workers at HarperCollins, the only member of the “big four” publishing houses to have a union, have had enough and authorized an indefinite strike. Work stopped at the downtown Manhattan offices on the sunny morning of 10 November. Employees like Guerdan, who is a shop steward at the union, spilled on to the streets to picket.
“We want to create a workplace that is more financially sustainable for employees and accessible to people from a variety of backgrounds,” said Olga Brudastova, president of Local 2110 United Auto Workers, the union that HarperCollins workers are part of.
More than 250 HarperCollins employees are unionized, including workers in the editorial, sales, publicity, design, legal and marketing departments. The strike was authorized by a vote of 95.1% last month. It comes after 11 months of negotiations with HarperCollins management over a new contract, and a one-day strike that occurred on 20 July.
According to the union, the average salary at the company is $55,000 annually, and the majority of employees are women. HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp, reported record profits in 2021.
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home: but unlike charity, it should end there.
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