In the latest about the effort by some employees to unionize Politics and Prose, Washington, D.C., DCist reported that owners Bradley Graham--who is also president of the American Booksellers Association--and Lissa Muscatine have hired Jones Day, a major law firm with a reputation for helping client companies aggressively fight unions.
Last week, Politics & Prose union organizers filed with the National Labor Relations Board for an election, after Graham and Muscatine declined voluntarily to recognize the union, which claims it has a "supermajority" of signed union authorization cards from staff.
Graham commented to DCist via e-mail, "When a union files a petition, the NLRB process moves swiftly. We had worked with Jones Day before on a number of employment and labor matters. They knew us, and we knew them. They were available right away. That's why we retained them."
The news was denounced by the union, which on Twitter called Jones Day "a union-busting law firm made infamous for its ties to the Trump Administration's efforts to overturn the election results. These are not the actions we have come to expect from Politics & Prose, nor do they reflect the values of our mission statement. However, we are undeterred. We are forming our union." (Although Jones Day received $18.8 million from the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and a Trump super PAC, according to the New York Times, the law firm has said it didn't participate in any litigation "alleging voter fraud.")
In a story about the unionization effort, the Washington Post--where both Graham and Muscatine worked for years as journalists--said that organizers have signed union authorization cards from "more than 70% of the 55 employees" they said would be part of the union. "But Graham and Muscatine said they don't believe that number is reflective of the entire staff, which consists of about 105 people. The two sides will settle on the total number of union-eligible employees ahead of the election."
The Post added that the election will probably be held by the end of the year.