Guitar Center Employees Unionize in New York [View all]

[marmar]

from Rolling Stone:



Employees at Guitar Center's flagship store in Manhattan overwhelmingly voted on Friday to form a union of its 57 retail workers. The new bargaining unit will press the company for improved working conditions and a reversal of declining wages at the 14th Street store. The national Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) orchestrated Friday's win, which marks the first in a series of anticipated union votes at the company's stores around New York City and potentially the rest of the country. To preempt further votes to certify, Guitar Center's management has launched a messaging campaign to educate its employees at nonunion stores about the supposed pitfalls of labor organizing.

"We always want to have a working environment that our folks love, and it's unfortunate that we now have a third party involved," says Dennis Haffeman, executive vice president of human resources for Guitar Center, a $2.1 billion retail chain owned by Bain Capital. "We're constantly listening to our employees' needs so that Guitar Center can be the best work environment in the music industry and, quite frankly, the best in retail."

RWDSU began focusing on Guitar Center in late 2012 after workers approached the national union complaining of worsening compensation, which they said came mainly in the form of falling sales commissions. "I'm earning significantly less than I used to," says Brendon Clark, 28, a pro-union sales associate at the 14th Street store. After four years with the company, Clark makes roughly $11 an hour. "During bad months, I've had to sell my instruments and max out credit cards to make rent." ......................(more)

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/guitar-center-employees-unionize-in-new-york-20130525#ixzz2UM15ltk0