Care for Pennsylvania Healthcare Members Paramount in New Contracts

When you or a loved one spends time in a rehabilitation center or healthcare facility you entrust their care to professionals like the members of Local 108. In order to provide the same level of care and compassion for their patients they cannot worry about their paychecks, their own healthcare or providing for their own families — that’s why having a strong union contract is so important! Healthcare workers can only provide the care their patients need when they are taken care of as well. Local 108 members in Pennsylvania recently ratified new contracts that go beyond those basics and reward their years of service and will also help them provide better care for their residents. The new contracts cover three different workplaces in the Keystone State: Silverlake Health Care Center, Tremont Rehabilitation Center, and Pembrooke Rehabilitation Center. Workers are excited to have won contracts with solid wage increases that maintain members’ union health and welfare coverage, which is critical in this industry.

Saks Women’s Shoes Workers Secure Commissions in New Contract

A new three-year agreement protecting commissions, raising wages, and securing medical benefits has been unanimously ratified by Local 1102 members at Saks Fifth Avenue in the Women’s Designer Shoe Department. Protecting commissions for retail workers is critical in luxury stores where a single high-priced sale can make up a large portion of a member’s pay check. Did you know? The commission pay structure was one the first methods used to secure gender pay-equity for union members in department stores and it continues to be an important system still in use today across many RWDSU stores to ensure fair pay. Members who work at the department store’s iconic Fifth Avenue flagship location in Manhattan also have won the opportunity to enroll in the union’s medical plan.

For years, retail workers have worried about the looming threat of e-commerce from behemoths like Amazon. And yet, in recent months, RWDSU members at bookstores have won historic contracts at brick and mortar stores that set new industry standards. Our stores are thriving, making it clear that in-store retail is still popular among shoppers in certain sectors.

Members at Greenlight Bookstore/Yours Truly, Brooklyn Sync Contract with All Other RWDSU Bookstores — Building Power!

Despite threats of e-commerce, brick-and-mortar bookstores are thriving as customers turn to the comforts of novels amid tumultuous times. As a result, RWDSU members are continuing to win sizable wage increases, improvements to their working conditions, and importantly safety provisions. Unionized bookstore workers are proving that the feeling of wandering the store, asking an experienced bookseller for recommendations, and walking out with the perfect new read is irreplaceable for many customers, but it requires a necessary investment in workers — which we are winning!

Just this year alone, RWDSU Local 1102 members at Book Culture, McNally Jackson/Goods for the Study, Greenlight Bookstore/Yours Truly, Brooklyn, and newly organized workers at Barnes & Noble have all secured historic union contracts with the RWDSU. The latest bookstore workers to ratify a new agreement at Greenlight/Yours Truly did so unanimously, locking in significant wage increases, safe staffing minimums, and increased PTO, among other important improvements.

Bargaining committee member and union steward Maritza Montañez, a buyer at Greenlight Bookstore, pointed out that “this strong contract will decrease turnover, make better use of booksellers’ skillsets, and ultimately benefit the entire company as well as our customers and community.”

Importantly, RWDSU bookstore members have carefully aligned their union contracts so they will all be up for renegotiation around the same time in three years. In New York City, with our fellow union members at the Strand who are members of UAW Local 2179, together we represent about 40% of locations of the major corporate and independent chain bookstores in the city. Union booksellers across the city are well positioned to harness our collective power to continue winning strong contracts, building on current gains and setting a standard for other brick-and-mortar retailers.

“We must raise the floor, and one of the best outcomes of all of this is knowing our win will help establish higher benchmarks for the industry as a whole – materially improving the lives and security of workers we’ll likely never meet,” said union steward Owen Watson, a bookseller at Greenlight Bookstore and member of the bargaining committee.

RWDSU members are proving that it is possible for in-store retail to thrive in 2025 with strong union contracts in place. Know a bookseller or other retail worker looking to unionize? Reach out to an organizer today!

And now some brief news from around the union…Do you have some you’d like to see in the next issue of the Record? E-mail us at news@rwdsu.org!

Grocery Workers Win Retroactive Pay in New Contract with Local 338

On March 21, 2025, after a long contract campaign, Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW has reached a deal with Morton Williams! Last month, members overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new union contract, securing significant improvements and continued protections on the job…

Catch up on RWDSU members and leaders in the news on a wide range of topics from across our union…

• Nonprofit Quarterly, March 21, 2025: REI Workers Undeterred by Co-op’s Refusal to Let Union Candidates Run for Board

• Vox, March 27, 2025: How Trump wants to make one of the most dangerous jobs in America even worse

• RWDSU Statement, March 28, 2025: In response to President Trump’s Executive Order Stripping Federal Workers of Their Right to Collectively Bargain

• Marijuana Moment, April 4, 2025: New York Launches Mandatory Workforce Training Program For Marijuana Industry Workers

 Click here for the 2025 Alvin E. Heaps Scholarship application