WEBVTT - The Campaign to Bust Chicago’s Only Bookstore Union 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:08.840 Also media, Welcome to ikadath here a podcast re union. 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:13.240 Good and not everything that is called co op is good. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.920 Sometimes they're not actually really co ops. I am your host, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:23.840 Mia Long, and today we are joined by the people 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:26.720 struggling under the tyrannical fist of a co op, a 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:33.320 thing that shouldn't be possible and yet somehow. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.479 so we are. We're talking today with Es and Finley, 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.440 who are booksellers at the Seminary co Op in Chicago. 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.560 And yeah, we are welcoming the union back to the show. 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.640 And dear God, what a disaster. 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:51.440 What a year at a spen. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.720 Well, it's really great to be found. I wish we 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.240 were back with slightly better news or yeah, since we 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:04.240 were last here. Certainly, yeah, because when we last spoke, 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:09.120 we had just sort of theatrically announced to art management 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.880 that we were in an organized shop with the IWW 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:16.400 and we were going to be bargaining with them for 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:21.240 better wages and humane working conditions for us all. And 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.520 they were like, yeah, you're a union, we so recognize that, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.680 and then they have sat on their hands ever since. 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:32.360 Yeah, So let's roll back all the way to the 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.840 beginning and explain a little bit about what the Seminary 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.880 co Op is for people who weren't here. How many 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:38.520 years ago. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.720 Was that though, that must have been last year. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:48.520 it was a while ago. I don't go yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.600 So the Seminary ca Op is a set of two 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.559 bookstores in Hyde Park, the Seminary co Op Bookstore, which 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:59.160 is a misnomer on two out of free counts. It's 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.360 not a seminary anym it's not a co op anymore. 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:03.800 It is still a bookstore, although it is not for 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:09.160 profit bookstore, which is a mysterious category of business that 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:11.160 doesn't exist anywhere else. 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:12.400 Baffling. 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.440 Yeah, briefly, just to enerject, I do think when I 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.120 would announce events and sort of give this exact breakdown 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:22.040 for audiences, like I said, not for profit bookstore whose 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.760 mission is book selling, right, And when I was hired 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.320 of like about three months before we announced we were unionizing, 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.800 the way it was put to me was other not 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.079 for profit bookstores they do a lot with like family 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:37.000 literacy or like specifically around women's issues. 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:38.639 But that was just. 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.960 Like an acknowledgement of the reality that bookstores don't make 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.480 a whole lot of money and what we are providing 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:48.840 is a not for profit bookstore is just the browsing experience. 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.080 We kept books on shelves for too long. It just 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.440 it seemed like a like a really romantic idea. 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:55.919 Of book selling that didn't have like a whole lot 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.760 of legs underneath it, so to speak. Yeah, so it 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.040 is nonsense, I would say, but that's me. 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:07.240 It's just a library, like we have this, it's called librarries. 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.080 Say they're a really big bookstore. I don't know. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:16.919 It was vague, yeah, baffling, baffling, yes, yeah, And then 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.960 I guess I guess the second part of it is 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.760 like when they say it's a co op, what does 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:22.200 that mean? 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:26.480 It means truly and as conspeech is more that it 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.919 was founded by Chicago Theological Seminary students, and there was 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:31.600 a reason for that. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.840 Yeah, like they did want to buy horse books at 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.720 the at the prices that retailers got them wholesale, And 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.040 so the thought was, I forget their names, but we 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:42.040 have the pictures of them. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.840 It was like a Cavanaugh or something. But these two 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:46.120 guys just you. 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.560 Know, if you were a student at Chicago Theological Seminary, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:51.000 we're even like a student at one of the other 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:52.760 divinity seminaries nearby. 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:54.920 You just put an amount of money and you. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:57.600 Were part of like you got your course book cheaper, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.080 you know, and under like a specific manager who came 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.880 like a couple decades after that, Like then it really 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.600 became like this is the neighborhood bookstore. This is part 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.320 of like as they say, like the intellectual sort of 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.280 cultural life of the university. But yeah, at one point 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.640 it was a cooperative because like you were a member 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.320 and you got your course books cheaper because you you know, 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.120 had a certain amount of shares in the books. 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.160 But yeah, it was a think smarter not harder kind 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:23.479 of scheme. 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:27.840 And then when they dissolved the like ownership shares and 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.840 stopped being a co op. That was twenty nineteen when 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.080 they organized as this not for profit. It's not a 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.960 five oh one C three, they don't have nonprofit status. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.920 It's this slightly different thing. And so one of the 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.400 one things that has happened in the past year is 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.360 we had an interim director who got us like basically 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.200 a nonprofit sponsor who lends its five oh one C 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:52.480 three status to other organizations and allows you to take 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.520 text deductible donations, but like, up to that point, we 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:59.160 couldn't do that because we were not a legitimate nonprofit. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:00.360 We were this other thing. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:06.040 Yeah, So since twenty nineteen it's been that, and then 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:11.000 since twenty twenty four, it's been that plus Chicago's standalone 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:12.120 unionized bookstore. 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.800 For now, we're hoping that others follow in Chilah. They will, Yes. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.880 I feel like it is not a great sign of 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.880 your business being a well run when you are doing 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.520 a thing that like rookie activist campaigns do when they're like, 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:31.360 oh shit, we got a bunch of money, we need 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.159 to borrow someone else's five O one. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.960 Three status, Like yeah, great, great. 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.240 Job management, like but incredible stuff. 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.440 And like, for me, part of what's been so like 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.600 just mying boggling is like the not for profit bookstore 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:50.680 who's mission is book selling, does sort of give this, 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:53.160 you know, if we're like a five oh one C 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.239 three who often does it. They don't turn a profit 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.720 or what they do, they reinvest it back into the 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.080 operations they're doing. But like, and we can talk more 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.599 about this as we get into like the bargaining, but like, 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.640 store financials have been so obscured and I hate from 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.479 like truly, truly hate from a linguistic standpoint, just sort 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.920 of this subtle like, oh, we must not be doing well, 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.480 because to me that feels like the rhetoric that really 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.120 justifies the pack that I'm paid sixteen ninety an hour 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:21.320 and I have a Master's of Divinity from the Seminary 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:22.720 of the Seminary co Op. 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:23.120 Yeah. 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.240 Well, and it's and I think it's also worth noting that, 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:30.000 like even from the perspective of capital, like all of 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.159 the giant tech companies didn't make money for like decades, 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.120 and all those motherfuckers were walking off with like one 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.400 hundred billion dollar payouts, you know, like they only ever 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.480 started making money when they started like reeling in a 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.760 bunch of government contracts for like web services and like 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.120 defense contracts and shit. And it's like, I don't know, 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.200 like this is this is I guess on topic, but 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.520 it's just something that makes you really mad where people 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.479 talk about like running the government like a business and 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.000 then like, you know, you get like the post office 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:58.880 where it's like, oh, the post Office doesn't run a profit. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.679 It's like, you know, doesn't what a fucking profit. Uber 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.839 literally has never brought a profit ever, not once yes, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:10.200 now once right, Like it's like no, like like I'm sorry, welcome, 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.240 welcome to Welcome to twenty twenty five capitalism, Like companies 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.440 don't make profits. They either get contact from the government 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:21.240 or their entire existence is either conning some venture capitalists 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.280 dipshits out of all of their money. Or it's like 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.760 Peter theal has decided that your like surveillance camera company 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.200 is ideologically important to him taking over the world, so 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.640 he's going to give you one billion dollars and it's like, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.400 oh no, I'm sorry, Like our financials aren't good enough 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.200 for you to pay you. It's like, motherfucker, Like have 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.920 you seen the rest of capitalism, like eat shit, pay. 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.120 Your workers, Like yeah, oh yeah, God damn well. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.760 We keep using that one meme over and over and 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.200 then it is true, like we're trying to balance the budget. 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.560 It's the true. The candles drill, yeah, yeah. 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:04.880 Because our management is so infuriating. And they also in 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.400 the year since we've been bargaining having an interim director 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.840 and spent most of his tenure searching for an executive 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.440 director to take over. That person is being paid one 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.120 hundred and sixty thousand dollars a year to our knowledge 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:23.440 Jesus Christ. And that's the offer that we know of. 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.840 We have yet to get his contract even though we 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.080 did make a formal information request for it. 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.240 Yeah, which is fucked. And it's also like yeah, like 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.960 every time these companies are like, oh, we don't have money, 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:40.080 and it's like, okay, I can find like an unbelievable 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.000 amount of money that you have given to someone to 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.760 like to give a random, non specific example that has 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.920 nothing to do with with with any company that is 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:55.080 in any way related to this show Live or Dead 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:02.679 by a bored ape yacht club edft. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:07.560 Like this is like they spend three hundred dollars on 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.880 Google home speakers for fifty seventh Street books and I'm like, wow, 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.880 my having that three hundred dollars would change my life. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.800 But also like you're paying that union busting lawyer thousands 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.320 of dollars that you could be paid reverse yep, but 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:23.600 that's that's capitalism. 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.360 Yeah, they have enough money to make your lives miserable, 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.640 but they apparently never have enough money to you know, 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:32.800 like bake your lives not miserable because they have to 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.240 spend that money on making your lives miserable. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.920 Yeah, and it's so intentional because making us miserable means 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:43.760 that they are wearing down the number of people that 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.960 they have to deal with and making the people who 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.640 are left so tired and so frustrated and so much 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:51.480 less capable of fighting them. 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:56.600 Yeah, and that feels like just you know, fens leaving. 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.520 We've also had a number of folks, like our bargaining 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:01.880 unit that the last time y'all spoke last year was 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.520 like twenty five people. Now we're down to eleven, and 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:10.160 they've refused to hire anybody part time with full time. Yeah, 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.240 of course, but they've been giving seasonal workers sort of 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.360 like extra hours, and that is someone's got to start 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.200 counting they have like unless they work for ninety days, 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.439 they don't have to. And because they're seasonal, you know, 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.360 YadA YadA, they don't really join our union as kind 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.720 of what I understand why they are not considered eligible. 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:30.680 But it's like, the booksellers are the heart of the store. 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:35.040 The classification of signal workers and particularly of event runners, 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.280 has been a point of contention throughout negotiations this whole time, 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.720 because obviously, from our perspective, we want anyone who's working 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.560 in the store in any capacity to be involved in 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.800 the union. We want them to not have this random 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:53.440 scab force that they can deploy at will. Yeah, And 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.079 that has always been the point that gets revisited over 0:10:58.120 --> 0:10:59.840 and over again. Just when we think we've gotten them, 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.240 often too, being union members, they'll come back with their 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.800 latest count and that's like, actually, I think because of X, 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:06.680 Y and b Z that we just changed, they're no 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:11.240 longer eligible to join your union. But they did just 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.160 hire I think three people that they were training at 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:17.760 fifty seventh Street last week, but they've made no formal 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.920 announcement to anyone that these people have been hired. 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:21.640 Yeah. 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.600 I only know that they were like in the stores 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.360 because one of them came to the co op by 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.400 mistake instead of fifty seventh Street and was like. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:29.559 Oh, I'm one of the hires. 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:30.839 Oh. 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.640 And so it's unclear if those are the seasonal workers 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:36.160 or if those are new hires. 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.560 Those are I'll say the most recent member, like part time, 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.559 full time member of our staff who's not me. None 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:45.040 of us knew she was hired, and she just came 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:46.480 up took a book right off my cart and I 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.440 was like, bitch, what but she But those were events. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.920 Those were the seasonal workers at the store. The other day, 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.120 Like I worked one of the Chicago Humanities events with them, 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.760 and it is like, yeah, then they just changed the 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.200 qualifking of who can be in the union. 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.560 Yeah, it's been very intentional, and it's been just like 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:10.920 over and over they revisit and reclassified and less down. 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.679 Yeah, we've done I think too since you last spoke, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.680 like a couple of work stoppages and then picketed outside 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:22.120 of our store as well, But that I don't know 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.280 in terms of like sort of regressive bargaining through attrition 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.680 that we're seeing and that they refuse to hire other 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.240 people even though they're kind of shooting themselves in the foot. 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.280 But just like our direct action has I think worked 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.320 against what they're thinking, which is that we're tired and 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:38.960 that we're not going to fight back and that we 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.120 are overwhelmed and we don't know what we're doing. But 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:44.800 there are a lot of folks who do, have, you know, 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:48.640 experience with these sort of direct actions like a work stoppage, 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.280 and I think it's why it's great that we're wildly's 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.640 but also like I do kind of like on the 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.240 work stoppage, health flustered and not like upset, but just 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.000 how flustered and yeah, just awkward management feels it's it's 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:07.000 empowering for me. Yeah, but it's very much on purpose. Well, 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:08.640 and I think that's one of things said. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:13.880 It's too just like a campaign in the broad sense 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.800 of continuing direct actions during negotiations. 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:19.280 Is it is that chance. 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.319 To connect with your coworkers and re solidify that you're 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.960 fighting for something intentional in the face of the fact 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.240 that you will probably start being scheduled more sparsely, you 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.320 will have fewer opportunities during the workday to talk to people, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.400 and like that's just stuff that's going to happen while 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.920 negotiations go on. But like making sure that you stay 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.000 in touch with your union as best you can and 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.120 like show up for all the direct things that you 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.520 can helps you internally combat that, which is really helpful. 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:50.520 Yeah, And I mean, like you don't like I sound 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.240 like we ran into organizing cues. We spent like I 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.920 think it was two years bargaining for our contract, and 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.280 they didn't have the capacity to literally rely force half 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:02.520 the workforce to quit. 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.000 But like, oh, don't worry. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.560 They don't have the capacity to lose this many people are, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:10.800 seems and they are how few people they have? 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.559 Yep, this whole thing is it's just like a really 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.040 really common managerial tactic, yeah, which is just like we're 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.840 going to make everything unlivable and try to get as 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:22.760 many people as we can to quit and then just 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.760 make everyone else's lives a living hell, which is like 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.200 this is I think I've said this before, but it's 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:33.360 it's like the extent to which the strategy is just 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.720 the the deliberate infliction of terror. 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.360 Yeah, well, and the strategy is just tank your business, 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.640 which seems incredibly conintuitive from their perspective. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.720 And like there have been events for like it's been 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.080 a book about like Karl Marx labor organizing, whether it's 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.480 a history or like a like sociology book, and folks 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.800 are like, I waited to buy this book here because 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.120 it's the Union bookstore, and like there is a way 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.400 that us being a union bookstore could look given like 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.200 that folks on our board are really progressive, people like 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:10.320 Adam Gettichu, like State Senator Robert Peters, who's like running 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.200 on a pretty pro labor background, Like us being unionized 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.720 could be like we are already at tourist bookstore, like 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.360 folks come from everywhere in or like this is such 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.560 a famous bookstore, but like it does baffle me. It 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:26.800 does make sense that it's a common tactic, but also 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.520 there's so much that could work in their favor if 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:33.120 they were not just like so committed to busting this 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:34.160 union we. 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:38.160 Hold on sidebar al Gritch. She was my professor. 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.720 Yeah, I talked to her today. Wait, she's just part 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.200 of the management team. No no, no, there's okay, so this 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:44.440 is part of it's just. 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.040 Like a different thing. Okay, sorry, sorry, this. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.080 Is okay, No, no, no, this is this is where like 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.080 us being a not for profit bookstore but not actually 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.680 like having any legal standing as a not for profit 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.120 gets a little confusing, and like Finn, you can probably 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.120 speak more to how this has come up in the 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.840 bargaining meeting. But when we I don't know if this 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.800 was around before the cooperative was dissolved and shared are 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.000 basically like worthless at that point. But there is a 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.840 board of directors, one of whom like is very very 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.320 famous and at least among the folks I know, for 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.520 effectively union investing employees at Experimental Station on sixty first 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.920 in Blackstone when they try to unionize right. And also 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.120 there are so many like Hyde Park progressives like RJP, 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.800 like I Adam Gettachuw eve Ewing as well. And these 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.840 are people I really respect, but like because there's like 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:37.560 this four cabinet, I think of folks who are have 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.640 been in and out of bargaining meetings when we've had 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:42.840 employees at other lead for unions who do have a 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.440 connection to like for example, Robert Peters. It does very 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.480 clear that like this governing board which does govern, they 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.440 have terms, but we're also a retail outfit. You know, 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.760 usually like a not for profit, the board of a 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.200 not for profit would be helping with like an annual 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.920 fundraising campaign. It's unclear entirely what the board does in 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:05.359 a retail outfit other than, at least in my experience, 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:09.600 like giving advice, writing emails to try to bust this union, 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.480 you know, before we unionized, albeit I had a very 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:15.840 short tenure before we had unionized. None of these people, 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.439 none of their names matter to me. But because like 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.240 there's so much confusion about is management going to be 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.760 representing folks in the bargaining meeting or is it going 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.880 to be a board member representative. I've been just who 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.879 is accountable to disclose what financial information and when or 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.960 just any information and when, Like, yeah, Adam Adam Yettuchu 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:35.879 is not one of our one of our bosses, but 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.320 like there is just a lot of confusion that I 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.720 feel about what the board is responsible for in bargaining 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.080 and with the manage and what management feels they're responsible for. 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.439 And I can clear up a little bit of that 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.920 because what we were told when we first unionized and 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:58.440 when the management team was kind of shifting and reorganizing 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.800 itself around to the board was the board is there 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:10.240 primarily to advise and supervise and hire the executive director 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:15.359 for the stores. And so there is a financial contribution, 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.800 Like they're all significant donors. That's part of the way 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:21.159 that they secure their seats is making a large donation 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.720 to the stores. But then, at least according to them, 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:30.280 from that point forward, they have no managerial oversight over 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.360 the operations of the store whatsoever. It is not their responsibility. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.160 They don't make any decisions about the budget, they don't 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:40.000 get involved, they don't want to be involved. And they 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:44.480 were embarrassed by having this attitude when previous management went 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:46.439 off the rails and nearly drove the store into the 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:51.680 ground by buying stock on credit cards. What but then 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.760 it's the whole thing that we do not have into 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:56.840 But that's. 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.600 This is bonkers. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:02.000 Yeah, oh yeah. 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.320 That is to say that somehow that experience did not 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:07.879 act as a wake up call for this board of 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.760 directors and they said, what we will do is hire 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:12.760 the next way man we can find and take our 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:13.879 hands back off the wheel. 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.600 Jesus Christ, is this an institution that people like it 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.200 would be helpful to put pressure. 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:23.560 On or that's what It's hard to say because there's 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:25.560 this and I think I talked about it the last 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.040 time we were on the podcast, But there's this responsibility 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.280 carousel between management who in a bargaining session. Because the 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:33.920 other thing is because we can't tell how involved the 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.399 board is, because they tell us that they're not involved 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.360 at all, and then they make decisions and we hear 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.120 about the decisions that they're making. We have asked repeatedly 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:44.880 that they be involved in bargaining and that they send 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:49.040 someone to represent them, or they like participate and have 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:50.920 an opinion on the way that the stores are run, 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:55.560 and they have repeatedly refused those invitations, requests, demands, et cetera. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:57.120 Yeah, it seems. 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.640 Their involvement has been to recommend that our management hired 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:02.119 Jenny Golds to be their lawyer. 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:04.000 And that is about as much as they want to do. 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:07.240 Jesus Christ like two things too. 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.440 And I think there was supposed to be a board 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.240 member president at the next bargaining meeting, but because our 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.399 meeting was contingent on having the full financial information that 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.760 we requested literally a month ago. And when we requested 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.720 that information, the next day a board member, the president 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:24.439 of the board said, Okay, we'll get this to you. 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:26.159 We got it. 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.359 I think you might know more about the timing of 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.320 this fit like at the last possible minute. 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.119 We got at the day before the meeting. Oh god, yeah, 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:35.919 and it was half of what we asked for. 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.959 Yeah, And then we said this is not what we 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.080 requested and we cannot meet because we said we couldn't 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.880 meet without this full information. They were like, we're disappointed 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:47.120 that you can't do that, and we were like, yeah, shocking. 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:59.080 Yeah, we are back. 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.160 Let's get more formally into like what the marketing process 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.000 has looked like. It sounds like it's been extremely chaotic. 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:12.840 They've been not running over information. It's deeply unclear who 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:16.360 he's making decisions which all seem and like I say, 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:21.119 this is my professional opinion, not good a technical anout 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.159 life assessment. Yeah, this is why they pay me the 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:25.080