Workers will be voting on their first contract after becoming the first bookstore in DC to unionize earlier this year
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 2, 2022) – On Tuesday, September 6, workers at iconic local bookstore Politics and Prose will be joined by elected officials and other community leaders for a press conference to commemorate the first union contract at the first unionized bookstore in the District of Columbia. At the press conference, the union will also release details on the groundbreaking new agreement reached with management.
| WHAT: | Press Conference to announce first union contract at first unionized bookstore in DC |
| WHEN: | 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, September 6, 2022 |
| WHERE: | Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008 |
| WHO: | Politics and Prose owners and union workers
Councilmember Elissa Silverman and other elected officials |
Politics and Prose employees became the first bookstore in the District to unionize after owners Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine agreed to voluntarily recognize the union in January. Negotiations on a first collective bargaining agreement began shortly after and a tentative agreement on a new contract was announced on August 30. The union bargaining committee, comprised of a team of Politics and Prose employees who negotiated the agreement with management, is unanimously recommending the proposed contract for ratification by the union membership. On September 6, workers will vote on the new agreement in the morning and the results will be announced at the press conference.
According to an analysis by Bloomberg Law, it takes 465 days on average for a newly unionized workforce with a newly unionized employer to reach a first contract, but workers at Politics and Prose were able to reach a deal in well under a year.
Tuesday’s announcement coincides with a wave of union organizing occurring across the country, notably at major corporations such as Starbucks and Amazon. Locally, grocery retail workers at Union Kitchen unionized with UFCW Local 400 in June and they are now in the process of negotiating their first contract. More recently, cannabis workers at Zen Leaf dispensary in Germantown unionized with UFCW Local 400 a few weeks ago.
According to the NLRB, union elections filings in the first half of fiscal year 2022 are up 57% from the year before and approval of labor unions is at its highest point since 1965, according to a recent Gallup poll.
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The United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400 is led by President Mark Federici and represents 35,000 members working in the grocery, retail, health care, food processing, service and other industries in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. www.ufcw400.org