![]() We’re on Day 58 of the strike, with no idea of how much longer this will stretch on. It’s palpable-the outcome of this strike will determine if hundreds of brilliant workers will leave publishing forever, or if people will finally be able to see a future for themselves in an industry desperately in need of change. You can feel it in our picket line chants, in our weekly membership meetings, in our Slack conversations. Negotiations halted in early November, when the publisher refused to return to the bargaining table, and so we walked-forgoing pay to fight for livable wages, codified diversity measures, and union security.Īs the only union in the Big 5, we are in the unique position to push the needle forward for all publishing, not just HarperCollins-a weight and opportunity that isn’t lost on any of us. ![]() A bit of character backstory: our union (approximately 250 NYC-based workers) has been without a contract since April, and has been negotiating with the company since December 2021. We’re not quite sure how to make it different.Īs a HarperCollins union member, I am participating in the open-ended strike that started on Thursday, November 10th. ![]() We are in what people call a “passion industry,” one that ultimately capitalizes on our love of stories to excuse low wages and a “you better be grateful to this opportunity” attitude. Much too often, we are overworked and underpaid. We, riding paint fumes and too many cups of coffee, scrappily work to construct those visuals, cobbling together symbols and figures and words. We work to figure out how that text should be visually represented. And I genuinely get the sense that that’s how the rest of my colleagues feel. I love working with my team and being privy to the birth of so many new literary voices. I get to work on heartbreakingly beautiful novels, spine-chilling thrillers, and memoirs that make me weep. Working for a major publisher like HarperCollins means my work will be seen around the world, in airports and indie bookshops alike. As a book cover designer, I get to read unseen manuscripts and create art to swaddle them in, a visual blanket in which to usher them into the light of day.
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