Members of the Seminary Co-op Booksellers Union (IWW IU 660) have been bargaining for over fifteen months (as of October 1st) with little progress towards achieving a contract and a living wage for its workers. Most workers make between $16.90-$18.50 an hour, which is between $6-8 dollars less than the living wage for an adult with no dependents in Chicago at $22/hour, according to MIT's living wage calculator. 

We filed a complaint of an Unfair Labor Practice with the National Labor Relations Board on September 9th and are now asking for members of our stores and our allies in the community to support us in our bargaining campaign. We're asking people who love our stores, organized labor, or booksellers to sign the petition below in a display of solidarity with SCBU as we make the following demands from management. 

• Fulfill their employees’ Request for Information in regards to the financial information of the full previous fiscal year no later than a week before the next scheduled bargaining meeting.
• Cease all attempts to debilitate and undermine our union’s bargaining efforts, including disruption of the status quo by changing workplace policies, such as scheduling and attendance, as outlined in the most recent version of the employee handbook (17.1) and through attrition by refusing to hire new booksellers into the union, understaffing the store and weakening store operations.
• Permanently terminate the employment of Jenny Goltz, an attorney representing management during bargaining with a known history of union-busting in Chicago. 

Stay up to date by following us on Instagram or plug into our bargaining campaign by filling out the form at the link here. 

However you show up, thanks for doing it! The bookstore works because we do, and we could not do this without the solidarity of our community. 

Yours, 

SCBU (IWW IU 660)

This photo captures our the founding members of our bargaining unit in May of 2024. We had maybe 24 people altogether, inlcuding those not pictured, and now we have twelve... and they're refusing to hire more people... so typical of the Boss...