FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Hachette Workers Coalition: info@hachetteworkers.com
Kathleen Floyd, WBNG Communications: kfloyd@wbng.org
Jeff Jones, LAJC Director of Communications: jeff@justice4all.org
New York, NY; Boston & North Adams, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Chapel Hill, NC; Nashville, TN; Lebanon, IN; Boulder, CO; Oakland, CA; Portland, OR; Toronto, CAN. – The employees of Hachette Book Group (HBG), the third-largest trade publisher in the USA, announce they have unionized with Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild-CWA Local 32035, of the AFL-CIO, in order to ensure better benefits, protections, and rights for workers, as well as increased equity, transparency, and agency in the workplace.
The Hachette Workers Coalition (HWC) is the largest union in trade publisher history, inclusive of workers in every physical office and remote location, across the USA and Canada. The HWC demands a livable wage regardless of work location, better working conditions, a cap on workload hours, a clear and neutral grievance process, AI protections, follow-through on DEI policies, and more.
The Hachette Workers Coalition has signed hundreds of cards in support of forming a union at HBG. For too long, Hachette employees have been forced to accept substandard working conditions, overwhelming workloads, and compensation not commensurate with the exceptional success and growth that workers have brought HBG. It is time to unionize to create an equitable and dignified workplace where workers can flourish.
The HWC is inviting any fellow eligible Hachette employees who have not yet signed to join this historic mission to truly make their voices heard. The union intends to actualize the Hachette Book Group mission pillars of Understanding Consumers, Changing the Story, Growth Mindset, and Owner Mentality for the benefit of the workers and book lovers, not only the corporate shareholders. The HWC also calls on all supporters of a union at Hachette Book Group to sign this open petition: HWC Open Letter.
From the successful campaign canceling HBG’s publication of Woody Allen’s memoir in 2020 to the powerful campaign amending return-to-office work in 2022, HBG workers know how to organize and advocate in their own best interests. The way Hachette Book Group and the book publishing industry as a whole currently functions – where shareholder profit is prioritized over product quality and workers’ rights – is unsustainable.
Andy Wang, Designer, Workman, says, “As employees of the Hachette Book Group, we take great pride in working with talented authors and artists to create books that spark conversations, educate, and inspire. As united members of the Hachette Workers Coalition, we reject our current industry model, which actively undermines the long-term development of employees’ skills and their ability to support themselves and their families in pursuit of unsustainable profit-driven growth. Both across the publishing industry and especially at HBG, we have felt the crush of increased workloads while our compensation, career growth, and opportunities have stagnated. Instead, leadership has continued to spin the revolving door with callously-handled layoffs, hushed dismissals, and has regressed on common-sense policies such as the right to work from home, or to even have your own desk!”
Julia DeVarti, Associate Editor, Little, Brown and Company, notes, “Urgent action is needed to prevent further burnout, mismanagement of our careers, and losing more talented people to the passion tax imposed by management. We deserve not to be exploited for working in an industry we love. We need to safeguard the work of our authors and artists. We believe that can only be achieved through a union. By demanding better working conditions, more accountability and transparency from management, and more democratic control over our workplace, we will build a better Hachette and set new industry standards as a truly sustainable publishing model that protects the integrity of books and other published products long-term.”
To hear more about the organizing campaign that has taken place at HBG for 5+ years, as well as next steps in the union process and HWC contractual demands, please contact the communications team at info@HachetteWorkers.com
ABOUT HACHETTE WORKERS COALITION
The Hachette Workers Coalition is a union fighting for better benefits, protections, rights and increased equity, transparency, and agency at Hachette Book Group. Check out our website at HachetteWorkersCoalition.com and follow us on socials at @HachetteWorkersCoalition on Instagram, @HBGWorkers on X, and @HWC on TikTok. Email us at info@hachetteworkers.com.
ABOUT THE WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE NEWS GUILD
The Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 of the Communications Workers of America, the union for more than 3,000 news, information, nonprofit and labor organization workers in the mid-Atlantic and beyond, including the Washington Post, Environmental Defense Fund, AFL-CIO, POLITICO and the American Nurses Association (ANA). Together, we hold our employers accountable and ensure that our workplaces reflect our values, which include ensuring everyone is free from harassment and retaliation, earns equal pay for equal work and has a voice in their workplace.