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The
Michigan Socialist | News | Michigan
News
The myth of 'hippie
capitalism'
Ann Arbor Borders workers launch unfair labor practice
strike
By MATT ERARD
The Michigan
Socialist
IF YOU'VE SEEN the film, The Big One,
by Michael Moore, you probably remember the success of the Des
Moines, Iowa, Borders workers as one of the film's highlights.
Moore appears at the local Borders to sign
copies of his new book, Downsize This!, and is handed a
note by an anonymous Borders employee. The note states that
workers were forbidden from attending his book signing and
asks him to meet them in a parking lot after dark.
When Moore arrives at the parking lot, the
workers inform him of their turbulent efforts to unionize and
by the film's end; the workers have formed their union.
The Des Moines Borders workers today, however,
have neither union cards nor living wages.
Despite organizing drives at over 24 Borders
locations, only the Ann Arbor, Mich., and Minneapolis, Minn.,
stores currently have unions.
The complaints and organizing drives by
workers across the country make it strikingly clear that the
lack of unionization within the retail goliath has nothing to
do with satisfactory working conditions or compensation.
Instead it can be attributed to a practice
which is as common as ever, but that we here so little about
in modern times -- unionbusting.
Borders, Inc., has been in the practice of
busting unions ever since they began to form in the mid-1990s.
On June 15, 1996, a bookseller at the
Philadelphia, Penn., store named Miriam Fried was fired for
insubordination after she tried to organize a union.
Fried had always received good reviews from
management in the past and had never been disciplined or given
warnings.
Since the firing of Fried, Borders'
unionbusting tactics have ranged from traditional to unique.
Traditional tactics have included harassment,
selective discipline of pro-union employees, and harsher
working conditions.
Less traditional tactics have primarily
involved a combination of intimidation with guilt-tripping,
and portraying unionization as a personal attack upon
management.
During a union drive in Seattle, Wash., the
company's anti-union campaign involved visits from Borders
President Tammy Heim, Director of Employee Relations Jim
Lathrop, and former CEO Bob DiRomualdo.
Heim allegedly cried in every meeting, with
assistant managers joining in, while Lathrop played the
truculent role.
BORDERS' ANTI-UNION CAMPAIGN has consistently
continued even after workers have successfully formed unions,
including the continued intimidation of union organizers.
Unionized workers have also been met with
frequent stalling by the company and refusals to bargain over
economic issues.
Most revealing about the company's total
unwillingness to negotiate in good faith was its decision to
hire Jackson Lewis LLP as its law firm for labor negotiations.
Jackson Lewis is one of the many law firms
that specialize in representing management exclusively in
labor disputes, particularly in fields that are primarily
occupied by women and minorities.
According to the AFL-CIO, Jackson Lewis is the
second most active unionbusting law firm in the country.
The firm has over 20 offices in 11 states,
more than 300 lawyers, and annual revenues of nearly $40
million.
To say that Jackson Lewis wrote the book on
modern-day unionbusting is not a metaphor. The firm, founded
in 1958, recently published the fourth edition of its book,
Preventing Unionization through Preventative Employee
Relations Programs.
"Be good parents," the firm told the audience
at one of its notorious anti-unionization seminars that it
holds for corporate executives.
"A three year-old sees a pretty, red stove top
and she wants to touch it. And you have to tell her how it
will sizzle her fingers and be terribly painful. The use of
fear is just as appropriate with your employees as it is with
the three year-old."
At the same seminar, the audience was told
that it is perfectly alright not to tell the truth in labor
disputes, and how unions should always be portrayed as third
parties that want to come between employees and management.
On Nov. 8, after nearly a year of failed
negotiations, workers at the Ann Arbor Borders launched an
unfair labor practice strike.
The Ann Arbor workers, represented by United
Food and Commercial Workers Local 876, began picketing at 8:30
a.m. and maintained the picket line everyday of the week
since.
Strikers were regularly joined on the picket
line by members of the Socialist Party of Michigan,
Solidarity, and Industrial Workers of the World.
The Ann Arbor union was formed in December
2002, when workers voted 51-4 in favor of unionization.
 |
| Borders workers and supporters rally in Ann
Arbor, Mich., November 7,
2003. |
THROUGHOUT THE STRIKE, Borders relied on
managers and workers being brought in from other locations to
keep the store running.
According the union, however, sales at the Ann
Arbor store dropped 75 percent.
On the first day of the strike, workers were
met by a manager who came outside to tear up picket signs.
Despite management's illegal conduct outside
the store, Borders called police on the picketers over 21
times during the first two days of the strike alone.
On the evening of Sunday, Nov. 16, the local
Einstein's Bagels, located only a few blocks from Borders, was
robbed at gunpoint while police were tied up at the picket
line due to the management's frivolous complaints.
One month before the strike began, Borders
settled an unfair labor practice charge by the National Labor
Relations Board over unlawful conduct at the Ann Arbor store,
including its usual tactics of instituting harsher working
conditions, interrogating workers about the union drive,
threatening employees with discipline if they discuss
discipline with other employees and unlawfully firing a union
supporter.
Nevertheless, the company continued its
unionbusting activities as well as its refusals to negotiate a
fair contract.
What was portrayed by Borders executives as an
unscrupulous demand for compensation that exceeds basic retail
standards was really nothing more than a demand for fair
benefits and wages that are adjusted for inflation.
According to Ann Arbor workers, Borders had
not changed its wages in over a decade.
Full time workers receive a starting salary of
$6.50-7 an hour, and do not receive benefits for six months
after beginning work.
The Ann Arbor living wage ordinance, which
does not apply to private-sector workers, calculates that a
minimum wage adjusted to the costs of living for workers with
benefits in Ann Arbor is $8.50 an hour.
A look at the company's earnings quickly
refutes any claim by Borders executives that even a
significant wage increase could prevent the store from staying
competitive.
Borders made over $125 million in profits last
year. All top executives currently have over $1 million in
unused stock options, while CEO Greg Josefowicz, who earns
over $500 an hour, has over $6 million.
In addition, Borders Inc has only 81 million
shares of stock outstanding, out of the 200 million shares
that it is allowed to issue.
The union has called for a national boycott of
all Borders stores, including its subsidiary, Waldenbooks, and
affiliate Amazon.com.
The boycott was officially endorsed by over
2,000 individuals and organizations, including the SPMI.
TWO DAYS AFTER the strike began, Borders
spokeswomen Anne Roman told the Michigan Daily that "we
remain open to negotiating at any time and would love to
resolve this quickly."
Nearly a month later, on Dec. 3, Borders gave
workers the opportunity to put Roman's words to the test by
scheduling negotiations.
During the session, a manager told the workers
that they represented the worst store in the company, and that
as a result, management could not understand their desire for
higher pay and better benefits.
Workers were then given no opportunity to
negotiate a concrete proposal other than compiling a list of
prioritized items and handing it to management.
Borders indicated that it would present a
proposal at the next bargaining session on Dec. 15, but
cancelled the negotiations on the morning of due to vandalism
at the store the night before, despite the union's denial of
any involvement.
The union again met with the company on Dec.
23. Borders' attorney initially promised to stay as long as it
took, but the company then employed its usual maneuver of
walking out of the negotiations as soon as it was time to
discuss wages.
According to the union, Borders stalled the
entire day, promising to discuss wages later. When the time
came, the attorney abruptly closed the session to leave in his
chauffeured limousine.
On Dec. 31, the union's bargaining committee
negotiated a contract and officially ended the strike and
boycott.
Details of the new contract have not yet been
disclosed to the public, but the committee has stated that the
contract is satisfactory and will strongly recommend
ratification at the meeting in early January.
The tentative victory of the Borders union is
likely to be an example for the other 436 Borders stores
nationwide, particularly the Minneapolis store, which is still
in negotiations.
Despite the company's long unwillingness to
bargain, the strike stayed strong all the way through, with
12-hour-long daily picketing in front of the Ann Arbor store,
as well as marches to corporate headquarters and Josefowicz's
home.
On several occasions, pickets, leafleting
rallies and pro-union caroling expanded to other Borders
locations in southeastern Michigan, including Detroit,
Birmingham, and the Arborland Mall.
However, the company was equally committed to
starving the union out for as long as possible.
Borders' attitude toward workers' rights was
best stated in a letter by former Borders President Richard L.
Flanagan: "While the concept [of a living wage] is
romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and
realities of our business environment."
Practicalities and realities, of course, are
really just two abstract words for a much simpler one --
greed. | 
