The movement to incorporate unions in businesses adjacent to comics continues to grow. Both SVA teachers and Abrams Books employees have recently voted for the union.
• SVA’s unionization efforts have been recorded on their Instagram account, saying that SVA is one of the last art universities to assemble the union. Instructor Joan Hilty is one of many who described the movement and represents over 1,200 instructors.
100% this. I also teach only one class, but organised expression is important for my colleagues and for the well-being of my students to teach full-time workloads heroically. Despite the assertions of managers, career experts who want to teach at SVA struggle to balance education and work due to the lack of competitive pay and institutional support in SVA. We cannot maintain endless unpaid preparation times outside of our daytime work more than a career professor can do outside of class sessions.
The vote has been held over the past two weeks and has been supported by 77% of those who voted.
•Abrams also voted to unify the union in the email-in elections held from April 30th to May 21st. I will also be participating in UAW Local 2110. This will begin the way Abrams editors, designers, product managers and other non-supervising positions will begin the process of negotiating contracts with Abrams’ books and headquartered in Manhattan, New York.
“We won. 79% of qualified voters cast the vote and won with an over-the-majority of 88%! We are excited and proud to be part of Abrams’ new era, an age when our rights as workers are codified in union contracts and our voices are heard collectively by management.
Abrams’ book will be the latest member of the New York Publishing Company, a member of UAW 2110, following Harper Collins, who joined in 2023 and joined the ranks of other workers in the comics who form unions like comic workers made up of image staff.
In a union voting petition, Abrams staff outlined their concerns.
Staff cited the need for lower wages, job security and greater transparency as reasons for unionization.
“The work we do in the company is essential. Without our work, Abrams would not have been able to publish books,” says Sarah Robbins, an associate editor who has worked for Abrams for five years. “We want to be heard and treated with respect, including fair wages and better employment protection.”
Designer Madeline Morales adds: “We love our work at Abrams, so we can use this as a workplace to thrive, so we combine unions.
Courtney Cord, a senior editor who has worked at Abrams for 10 years, said: “As the book ban is rising, I am proud to publish with the most creative, supportive and hardworking people I have ever met.
Over the past few years, thousands of workers have decided to frame unions in cultural institutions, media and other traditionally “white-collar” roles. Abrams Books salaries are one of the lowest in New York City’s Book Publishing World, with an entry-level rate of just $40,000 a year. The Big Five Publishing’s entry-level fees rose to more than $50,000 after a massive strike by workers in HarperCollins in 2023, but wages at Abrams continue to be lagging behind.
Abrams workers have seen a sudden change in healthcare and retirement benefits, multiple rounds of layoffs and even union bankruptcy attempts.
“Thirteen years after publication, I was at risk for the point of skepticism that anything can be improved and stressful and chaotic conditions are industry standard,” says senior designer Andrea Miller. “I was organizing with my colleagues at Abrams, so I completely changed my outlook.”
Additional Reports by Heidi MacDonald
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