Workers at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange on East Speedway on Tuesday voted to be represented by a union — a first for the bookstore industry in Arizona.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union said 49 employees at the Bookmans at 6230 E. Speedway were eligible to vote in Tuesday evening’s election, with 32 voting in favor of joining UFCW Local 99 and 13 voting against it, the union said.
The head of Bookmans said the company respects the vote and will work with the union.
“We respect the right of our employees to explore the option of being represented by a union. Now that they have made that choice, we will begin working with the UFCW to ensure that Bookmans remains a great place for our employees, our customers, and our community,” Sean Feeney, president of Bookmans, said in a prepared statement.
A Tucson mainstay since the 1970s, Bookmans buys and sells used goods, including books, music, movies and games at the east-side store and a second store at 4841 N. Stone Ave.
The company also has one store in Phoenix, one in Mesa and two in Flagstaff.
Employees at the Bookmans store who were eligible to vote Tuesday included cashiers, customer-service workers, merchandise coordinators, and musical and electronics department workers, including front-line employees, as well as supervisors.
According to the UFCW, the unionization effort began in part due to sudden layoffs of the company’s marketing team earlier this year.
“I wanted to unionize our store for better pay and benefits, but also because we feel undervalued,” said Kai Parmenter, a book buyer at Bookmans Tucson East. “Our subject matter expertise and relationships with customers is what makes Bookmans thrive. We deserve to be treated like it. Now that we have a union, we finally have a voice to make things better.”
The Bookmans union vote is part of a national trend of union organizing at bookstores, the UFCW said, citing similar efforts elsewhere at Barnes & Noble, Half Price Books and other shops.
UFCW 99 is Arizona’s largest private-sector union, representing 25,000 essential workers at Fry’s, Safeway and other employers.
In 2022, concerned community member Michelle Teague asked that the Catawba County School Board remove 24 books from the district’s school libraries. Claiming that these books contained explicit content that she felt children should not be exposed to. Now these books as well as many more are being challenged in libraries across the country.
