Owners of Princeton’s Labyrinth Books Agree To Voluntarily Recognize Union

PRINCETON, NJ – The owners of Labyrinth Books said they recognize their staff’s choice to unionize and look forward to work together.

“We as owners of Labyrinth Books have decided to stand with our staff and recognize their choice to unionize with the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. Since they announced just before Christmas that they wanted to unionize, we have been in a process of deep reflection and conversation, especially with our management team,” owners Cliff Simms, Peter Simms, Dorothea von Moltke said in a media statement on Tuesday.

“The past two weeks have convinced us that the majority of the staff that’s eligible to vote is in favor of unionizing. By voluntarily recognizing the union, we are stating our sincere intention to use this organizing moment as an occasion to listen to everyone, make positive changes, and form a united Labyrinth that can do all the work we do better together.”

Earlier, the bookstore and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) reached a stipulated election agreement, with the election date set for Friday, Jan. 19.

Last month, workers at Labyrinth Books filed a petition with the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission to unionize with RWDSU.

In an earlier interview with Patch, workers decided to unionize as staff at the bookstore are “overworked and underpaid.”

“Labyrinth employees want fair wages and compensation, an official grievance process, and a say in the decisions made at the store. Labyrinth has the potential to be a wonderful workplace, and we’re hoping that the union helps the store be as successful as it can be,” Rebecca Ziemann, an employee and one of the organizers told Patch.

“We’re hoping that Dorothea, Cliff, and Peter voluntarily recognizes our union so that we can begin contract negotiations. If not, we are prepared to win our union election and go into negotiations from there.”

Labyrinth Books is the second bookstore in NJ to unionize after the workers in Barnes and Noble at Rutgers University, according to the RWDSU.

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