Seems Amazon’s bookstore-annihilating creep has now even reached the Strand, its totebag-toting clientele, and, let’s not forget, its unusually unionized workforce. (They are members of The United Auto Workers.) The Times’ CityRoom reports that a vote is slated this week on a new contract for the store’s employees (who’ve been without one since September) that would freeze pay, take away over half their personal days, and decrease health-care benefits. “We don’t want anything near what they’re offering,” said one 22-year-old employee who is, at least, protected from the even sharper cuts faced by newly-hired workers. With the contract likely to be voted down, Occupy Wall Streeters are getting involved, not that the Strand is your everyday run-of-the-mill exploitative conglomerate.
