Powell's City of Books struggles with union in bitter labor dispute
Thursday, December 4, 2003 7:26 AM PST
By Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articlePORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- In the Purple Room of one of the nation's largest independent bookstores, 452 books spanning 12 wooden shelves make up the labor studies section.
Here, among the writings of Karl Marx and yellowing copies of Noam Chomsky, the liberal heart of Powell's City of Books is still beating.
But walk outside the bookstore to where security guards are drowning in the union's chant of "Powell's Unfair." On the curb of the flagship store, placards are embellished with drawings of a bloody knife under the words, "Don't Cut Our Benefits."
"It's become a big corporation -- it's all about the bottom-line now," said 42-year-old Robert Bade, a union activist who has worked for Powell's since 1992.
Since October, the management of Powell's has been locked in a bitter labor dispute with the more than 400 employees who are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
At stake is the cost of health care. Under the new plan, employees will pay 10 percent of each doctor's visit rather than a one-time $100 deductible. Prescription refills for generic drugs, such as Prozac, will remain unchanged, but the cost of less common drugs will jump as much as 300 percent.
Unionized workers say the company's contract offer symbolizes a change in culture at Powell's.
In 1970, Michael Powell, a University of Chicago student, opened his first bookstore in Chicago, taking a loan of $3,000 from university mentors -- including Saul Bellow. Walter Powell, Michael's Portland-based father, opened his own venture in a former car dealership here. It always had an edge -- offering zines in addition to mass-market publications, for example.
"This was never meant to be Barnes and Nobles," said Ryan Van Winkle, union spokesman. "Powell's developed the culture of caring for each other."
Ann Smith, Powell's CEO of operations, insists the store continues to be one-of-a-kind in its inventory as well as in the work environment it offers.
"There's absolutely no comparison," she said.
She argues the economy forced management's hand -- over the last four years, the cost of Powell's health care policy has risen 71 percent.
"Powell's is here in part because management has been clearsighted about what it takes economically to have this business survive," she said.
Industry expert Robert Segedy, whose column is featured on Booksense.com, agrees that independent bookstores took a blow.
"It's been horrifying how many stores have closed across the country," he said. But he cautions Powell's.
"Your employees are always the face of the company. Having them grieve their grievances in public is not very smart -- it's not true to the spirit of an independent bookstore."
While the most recent dispute began in October, the last four years have been marked by frequent confrontations.
In 2000, in the midst of their last round of contract talks, union activists picketed Powell's Internet shipping docks, blocking the shipment of books. They delivered two garbage bags full of pink Valentine's cards to owner Michael Powell's house just before Valentine's Day -- a precursor to a walkout by 70 employees a week later. When hundreds of protesters clashed with police on the steps of the bookstore in May, management shut down operations.
Last week during the most recent one-day strike, protesters shouted at customers trying to cross the picket line.
"Do you care only about yourself?" yelled one man as a frightened customer scurried inside.
Only a handful of employees remain who worked with both Powells. Those that do insist that the paradigm shift began when Michael Powell returned from Chicago in 1979 and took over the reins.
"They came to the store from different places in their lives," said Stefanie Siegel, now based in Brooklyn, who was one of Walter Powell's closest assistants. "You're talking Old World capitalism versus New," she said.
While the older Powell offered his customers discounts and sometimes paid his employees by taking them to the oyster bar after work, Michael Powell was all-business, Siegel said.
"I didn't have a health insurance with Walter -- but I didn't need to," she said.
In spite of the screaming poster boards outside the store, even the most embittered employees seen unready to give up on Powell's.
"What keeps me here? I love my job. I love my customers. I love my co-workers," said Bade.
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