The members of the Harper Collins Union voted to ratify a new contract on Thursday, 16 February 2023.

The ratification follows on the heels of a three-month strike.

The workers at Harper Collins have won a labor victory, welcoming a contract that gives them a stronger voice, improved compensation, and greater benefits. The victory was the result of hard work, sacrifices, and organizing through the Harper Collins Union, an affiliate of UAW Local 2110.

The UAW Local 2110 is “an amalgamated union with 30 contracts covering over 3000 workers in universities, publishing, museums, law firms and other offices.” Although the Harper Collins union has been around for 60 years (and affiliated with UAW for 30 years), it remains one of the few outposts of labor organizing within types of industries not frequently associated with strong labor movements. A contract win for the Harper Collins union maintains the strength of an important and largely undeveloped front in labor politics.

A tentative agreement between the union and management was announced on February 9. The final agreement was ratified by membership a week later. The union detailed some of the key points in a recent Twitter thread, below:

Highlights include: higher pay overall, higher minimum pay, more union steward representation, added Juneteenth and Presidents’ Day to the list of paid holidays, and more.

When we fight, we win.