After 16 months of negotiation, the Verso Books Union has ratified its contract.
Good news for workers’ rights! The US arm of Verso Books has ratified its union contract 16 months after they began negotiations, making it the first publisher to have a contract with NewsGuild, “the largest union of journalists, media workers and activists in North America.”
On Twitter, the union listed some of its wins, including an 11% raise for the first year of the contract, a new salary band system that “delivers predictable and automatic annual salary steps at the start of each calendar year,” affirmative action in the hiring process, and 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave.
Speaking to Lit Hub editor Corinne Segal in 2020, Verso senior publicist Julia Judge and editor Ben Mabie said of the unionization effort, “There’s no substitute for organizing. In fact, that’s all the union is: it’s you and your colleagues determining a course for yourselves.”
Major congratulations to all!
