Employees at the Center for Fiction have won voluntary union recognition from the Brooklyn-based nonprofit bookstore and literary hub and will begin contract negotiations in the coming weeks, according to an announcement.
The approximately 25 employees, who are represented by Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), first filed to unionize on May 15, when they presented their request for recognition to Center for Fiction executive director Lydah Pyles DeBin. The Center voluntarily recognized their union on May 28, according to the press release, and on June 2 RWDSU was confirmed as the employees’ official bargaining representative.
Several of the booksellers, baristas, and events and memberships staff covered by the union expressed pride in the Center’s decision. “The Center has taken an important first step in affirming the value of its workers and the contributions they make every day to The Center and its community,” said events production coordinator Eliana Cohen-Orth. Voluntary employer recognition is not a given, though it is more common at nonprofit organizations like the Center for Fiction than at large publishers like Abrams, whose employees unionized last month.
“With a union contract in place, workers will gain the clarity and stability they deserve—knowing their schedules, understanding their job roles, and having a real voice in workplace policies and decisions,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. The Center has been a fixture of the literary community since it opened its Brooklyn location in 2019, where it hosts literary events and houses a bookstore, library, writers’ studio, and cafe.
In a statement to PW, executive director DeBin said the Center is “pleased” to have recognized the union, adding that they “look forward to engaging in a collaborative and constructive contract negotiation process." Negotiations will begin as soon as possible once the union has elected its bargaining committee, according to RWDSU spokesperson Chelsea Connor.
Center for Fiction employees join the ranks of booksellers at large retailers, like Barnes and Noble, and at independent shops like McNally Jackson, Greenlight, and Book Culture, all of whom have unionized with RWDSU in recent years.
