Powell's Books, Portland, Ore., has completed a series of layoffs that began in June and have amounted to about 20% of Powell's staff, Willamette Week reported.
Without providing numbers, Powell's owner Emily Powell said in a statement last week, "These decisions have been extremely difficult, and we recognize their impact on our employees. With this final round complete, our focus shifts to execution, delivering on the experience our customers have come to expect from Powell's Books and strengthening the fundamentals of our business."
Myka Dubay, union representative for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 5, which represents Powell's employees, told Willamette Week that 40 union positions have been eliminated across the company during the past year, along with approximately 20 management positions. Dubay added that in August when layoffs were first announced, there were 324 union members at Powell's, including temporary employees hired for the summer. At the end of January, union employees at Powell's totalled 223.
In November, Powell's confirmed that it had let go 31 employees since June in several rounds of layoffs.
Dubay added that the union is, Willamette Week wrote, "working to ensure that the layoffs are carried out under the terms of the union contract, which stipulates that most workers are eligible to be recalled if or when Powell's increases staffing in the future." The union has a first meeting scheduled with David Maquera, the CEO Powell's quietly hired last September.
Powell's has struggled in the past few years, facing rising costs and sales that haven't climbed back to pre-pandemic levels.