HarperCollins Union Has Voted To Strike

The HarperCollins union represents over 250 employees in various divisions of the company, from legal to design to editorial and sales. They have been in negotiations since December of 2021, and the process was made more complicated by HarperCollins recently acquiring the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade division. The union says HarperCollins will not allow the new employees at the bargaining table or recognize their seniority.

The union is bargaining primarily for higher pay, which they claim hasn’t kept pace with inflation and does not reflect a living wage in New York. This is made especially frustrating because of HarperCollins’s recent acquisition. As one representative said, “If they can buy a whole division and still have record setting profits, they can raise salaries to match the cost of living.”