• The Hub

    News, Notes, Talk

    These famous authors are expressing solidarity with the striking HarperCollins workers.

    Dan Sheehan
    By 
    November 10, 2022, 2:23pm

    As you may have seen on Book Twitter today, the unionized workers of HarperCollins are striking to secure a fair contract, livable wages, and a more equitable publishing industry.

    Some 250 employees—across the editorial, publicity, sales, marketing, legal and design departments—agreed to go on an indefinite strike after negotiations with the company stalled.

    As reported by the New York Times early today:

    Olga Brudastova, the president of Local 2110 of the U.A.W., which represents unionized HarperCollins employees, said that the union had decided to go on an indefinite strike after negotiations with the company stalled. The union is proposing that HarperCollins raise the minimum starting salary to $50,000, from $45,000. It has also demanded that the company address the lack of diversity in its work force.

    Publishing has long been an underpaid, predominantly white industry, based in a city where the cost of living is prohibitive for many. HarperCollins made upwards of $2 billion in revenue last year, and is owned by NewsCorp, whose ghoulish nonagenarian overlord Rupert Murdoch is worth somewhere in the region of $17 billion. So there’s that.

    The 250 striking workers represent only a small percentage of HarperCollins’s 4000-person global work force, so this is very much a David Vs. Goliath struggle, but the underdogs do have the support of a large number of prominent authors (as well as, it must be noted, an even larger number of agents, editors, and other industry professionals).

    Here’s just a small sampling of that high-profile solidarity.

     

    Updated: December 15, 2022

    HarperCollins Solidarity forever strike

    • Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member: Because Books Matter

    For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience, exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag. Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

    Become a member for as low as $5/month

    Dismiss without supporting Lit Hub
    x