Borders - Strike One!

Nov 9 19:42 UTC 2003

http://tinyurl.com/uavc

Some of you may have noticed that the employees at the Downtown Borders 
store (Store #1) have gone on strike. I have been thinking about this 
quite a bit since I am employed by this company and because the field 
of labor relations holds a lot of interest for me. 

I totally support these workers right to unionize and I believe 
strongly that having unions CAN make labor relations better for both 
labor and management. I am very interested in seeing if this strike 
helps them at all. 

I am not sure that all of their demands are very realistic, especially 
their demands of higher wages and better benefits. Retail is a very 
highly competitive business with pretty low profit margins. If this 
union were to win on the higher wages portion of the contract, it is 
possible that Borders might not find that store profitable enough to 
keep it open. This is especially true since other booksellers in the 
area with non-union workers would be hiring at the market wage which 
very well might give them a competitive advantage. 

On the other hand, it is possible that if Borders employees were to win 
higher wages and better benefits, it could end up being good for that 
particular store. I mean, if Borders were paying better than other 
retail outlets in the area, they could attract better employees. They 
certainly would retain employees longer which is something that can be 
a real benefit to a place like Borders. It is possible that the higher 
wages could lead ultimately to better service which might work in a 
place like Ann Arbor. I hear people complaining about how much they 
miss the good service of the old non-corporate Borders. 

Borders as a large firm has some pretty good reasons not to want the 
employees to win. They have been sending email and issuing statements 
to all of us non-union employees that say that the reason wages and 
benefits are not being negotiated is that they dont think it would be 
fair to pay the employees of one store better than the employees of 
another store. (Never mind that they pay based on *local* labor markets 
so they already pay the staff at some stores more than they pay the 
staff at other stores). The thing is...if the Borders employees at the 
Ann Arbor store win on the point of wages and/or benefits, it will give 
a powerful incentive for the employees at other stores. 

response 2 of 21:

Nov 9 21:45 UTC 2003

Hey man. I support them but I dont support them *that* much. ;) How 
would I be able to afford my double espresso mocha lattes if I didnt go 
to work? Seriously though, my financial situation is such that I have 
to continue to work. 

The most I am willing to do is to not cross their picket line downtown. 
I have not volunteered to work at that store for that reason. I will 
admit though that if I was told to cross the picket line and work 
there, I probably would because I cant really afford not to have an 
income right now. 

response 4 of 21:

Nov 10 21:23 UTC 2003

I know. Collective bargaining can actually *help* management if they 
know what they are doing. 

response 6 of 21:

Nov 11 02:54 UTC 2003

I have to admit my first reaction is, 'Damn, now where am I going to get my
parking validated when I go downtown?' ;>  I wouldn't cross a picket line
just to get a half hour of free parking, though, at any rate.

response 8 of 21:

Nov 11 17:07 UTC 2003

        *cuddle puddles*

response 10 of 21:

Nov 12 01:53 UTC 2003

Hey - md - if you read, you'll see that Lynne was describing a strike by
Borders employees. She's a Waldenbooks employee. So lay off scab girl,
already. Scab girl doesn't need it.

I really liked the "old" Borders - the one that existed in Ann Arbor in the
pre-K-Mart days, when you could find amazingly obscure books on the shelves,
and could probably find an employee who had read most of them.... Part of
the reason that the current set of employees makes less is that they are
employed as "warm bodies" and the books are a commodity to be moved in large
quantities. Quite a shift in corporate culture....