Massapequa Barnes & Noble Workers Vote To Unionize, Prepare For Bargaining With Bookseller

MASSAPEQUA, NY — Massapequa Barnes & Noble workers voted to unionize Friday, certifying by an 85 percent vote to align with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) local 1102.

The Massapequa store follows Manhattan stores at Union Square and West 82nd Street, a Brooklyn store in Park Slope and a Bloomington, Illinois location in unionizing with the local 1102. Barnes & Noble did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

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The RWDSU said the union would include booksellers, cashiers and other non-supervisory workers at the Massapequa location.

According to members of the staff at that location, part of the impetus to unionize came from watching negotiations unfold elsewhere.

“Winning our union election means we finally have a voice to demand the respect and stability we deserve,” Sam Migliore, a senior bookseller at the Massapequa location, said. “Seeing the incredible safety wins, wage increases, and health benefits our coworkers in the city won in their contract last year showed us exactly what is possible when we stand together. We are ready to bring that same energy to the bargaining table.”

In a conversation with Patch Monday, local 1102 president Jack Caffey said the unionization vote had been months in the making.

“We’ve been working on this for several months. We represent several other locations in Manhattan, and there's a couple out of state from our sister locals, but local 1102 represents three in [New York],” Caffey said. “[A] person that is in one of those shops in Manhattan knows someone from the Massapequa location, and they were talking about the benefits they had from the union at their locations, under the local 1102 contract, and what they have is a non union location there, so that's kind of what got the ball rolling.”

With the vote to unionize in the rearview mirror, Caffey said the next step is giving notice of intent to bargain to Barnes & Noble. While Caffey said no written notice has been sent, he did say there had been verbal communication between the two sides. The union and the bookseller, he said, have a “working relationship” from prior unionization efforts at other locations.

“It’s not something they’re not used to,” Caffey said.

As for what the workers are looking for out of the collective bargaining process, Caffey said wages — usually the top of the list for any union — are among a host of concerns being brought to the table.

“Quite honestly, most would think that wages are number one,” Caffey said. “But in these cases, there are some other ones, which would be scheduling, development, and then money…in speaking to the workers and the organizers, it was inconsistency in scheduling [that was raised as an issue]."

While the vote to unionize is just a step in a lengthy process, workers at the Massapequa Barnes & Noble still took an optimistic tone in a Friday announcement from the union.

“We are all thrilled by today's results and are ready to continue the fight," lead bookseller Alexandra Jorge said. "We look forward to negotiating a fair contract that guarantees livable wages, clear opportunities for career growth, and promotes communication that will benefit both workers and the store alike.”