Half Price Books union keeps growing as workers in Apple Valley organize

July 20, 2026 by
Workers with fists raised outside a Half Price Books store

Workers at the Half Price Books in Apple Valley celebrate their successful union election. (UFCW photo)

The Twin Cities area has its fifth union bookstore, after workers at the Half Price Books in Apple Valley voted earlier this month to organize with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663.

Workers at the company’s stores in St. Louis Park, Coon Rapids, St. Paul and Roseville organized in 2021, won their union elections in 2022, and ratified their first contract in 2024. UFCW Local 1189 represents workers at the St. Paul and Roseville stores.

The new, 15-person bargaining unit in Apple Valley will look to build on gains made by union members at the other locations, bookseller Drew Schmidt said. That includes guardrails for the employer’s use of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

“Half Price Books is attempting to iron out the individuality that shapes our community by standardizing our roles and incorporating AI in our workplace,” Schmidt said. “Unionizing is our way of encouraging Half Price Books to correct its course.”

Apple Valley workers also hope to bargain for higher wages and better staffing in their store, which sees steady foot traffic despite being the smallest Half Price Books outlet in the area, bookseller Katelyn Anderson said.

“We’re fairly busy and have much more limited space,” she said. “I feel like sometimes we don’t have enough people to cover how busy our store is.”

Meanwhile, workers’ wages aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of living, and Anderson said the pay does not reflect the level of expertise she and her co-workers must maintain. Unlike most other retail jobs, Half Price Books workers make cash offers to people looking to sell their books, albums or other materials.

“It’s really hard to kind of feel comfortable in this job with how much work we’re asked to do for the wages that we get,” Anderson said.

“I love this job. It’s cool to see the stuff that comes in and be able to help people find materials that they’re excited and passionate about. It’s amazing, but it does kind of feel defeating because they’re just not really livable wages anymore.”

Apple Valley workers voted 10-5 in favor of unionizing. The National Labor Relations Board certified the election results July 8.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Boycott of REI’s anniversary sale begins today

May 15, 2026 by

Over 70,000 REI Co-op members have pledged to boycott the outdoors retailer’s anniversary sale, which runs today through May 25, in a show of solidarity with workers at 11 unionized stores across the country, including one in Maple Grove.

REI Union members voted in March to authorize a boycott of the co-op’s largest event of the year and immediately began appealing to shoppers for support. (Take the boycott pledge.)

Workers say the boycott is a response to REI’s decision in February to declare bargaining at an impasse and implement the economic terms of its last, best and final offer, which over 98% of union members voted down in January.

The imposed terms cut benefits, starting wages and raises for many union members. The REI Union’s bargaining team, which brings together members of the Retail, Wholesale and Depart-ment Store Union (RWDSU) and six United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals, have called the move union-busting – and illegal.

Jacob Lish, a sales specialist at the Maple Grove store who represents UFCW Local 663 on the nationwide bargaining team, noted that REI implemented only the punitive economic terms of its final offer, not tentative agreements reached earlier in talks that introduced new rights for union workers.

“It’s really important for us that REI hears that its members don’t support the union-busting they’ve been trying to do this whole time,” Lish said.

Union members are hoping the anniversary-event boycott delivers just that message.

In addition to co-opmembers who have taken the boycott pledge, the nation’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, has endorsed the boycott, adding REI to its “do-not-buy” list.

“Their bottom (line) is what they care about at the bargaining table,” Lish said “Even our most modest asks are too expensive; they tell us they can’t afford it.

“So by asking members to withhold their money for those 15 days, we think, is really going to impact REI – and hopefully drive them back to the table to reach an agreement with us.”

Union negotiators say they were “within inches” of a tentative agreement with REI before talks broke down. Management, they say, refused to guarantee union members wages on the same level as their non-union peers – a poison pill designed to thwart future organizing.

More recently, REI has demanded union members accept non-disparagement language in their contracts that would prohibit speaking out publicly against the company.

“REI has refused to offer us a fair contract, despite our willingness to compromise, and instead has insisted on provisions that would prevent more workers from joining the REI Union and that would ban us from speaking out,” Alex Pollitt, a worker at the REI in Bellingham, Wash., said in a statement. “Their anti-union stance is deeply incompatible with the values REI claims to profess.”

In June 2023, REI workers in Maple Grove voted 22-4 in favor of joining UFCW Local 663. After the vote, workers said they looked forward to winning a contract that addressed the rising cost of living, ensured consistent and adequate hours and improved staffing in their store.

Maple Grove was the seventh REI location to unionize. Organizing has continued, with workers at a twelfth store, in San Diego, scheduled to vote in a union election May 27-28.

Despite its reputation as a progressive-friendly retailer, REI has dug deep into the union-avoidance playbook since workers in New York unionized the first store in March 2022.

But the approach has not gone unnoticed by the co-op’s members.

When the REI union campaigned last year to elect two labor-friendly environmental leaders to the co-op’s board of directors, REI refused to put either on the ballot. The union then encouraged members to vote “no” on the co-op executives’ hand-picked candidates, who were running unopposed in the board election.

It worked, as over 115,000 members responded to the union’s appeal.

Two months later, REI agreed to establish a national bargaining structure with the union to settle contracts at its unionized stores – and to provide wage increases and bonuses that it had withheld from workers for the previous three years.

Now, REI members are being asked to deliver a similar message to executives by boycotting their co-op’s anniversary sale.

“We know REI really values themselves as a member co-op, or at least they say they do,” Lish said. “And we already know members support our goal of having some rights in the workplace and basic dignity as workers.

“With that really broad support from the membership, we think this boycott is going to be the most effective way to drive the response we are looking for.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Community, Organizing, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

With support from shoppers, St. Paul co-op workers win landslide union election

October 11, 2024 by

(UFCW photo)

Mississippi Market Co-Op workers voted Wednesday to unionize. The organizing drive, which drew public support from several co-op members, brings together 158 workers at the grocer’s three St. Paul locations.

Workers voted 82-19 in favor of joining United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, which represents retail workers at Cub Foods, Lunds & Byerlys, Kowalski’s and other unionized grocers in the Twin Cities’ east metro.

Rowan Garrigan, a cheese buyer at the co-op on West 7th Street, said the landslide result shows that Mississippi Market workers are eager for a seat at the table in decisions that affect their working conditions.

“The market does a lot of things right, but without the employees getting much of a voice, it’s easy for things to go wrong,” she said. “A union contract guarantees we get to be heard, that we get a say in things.”

The organizing drive moved quickly after co-op workers approached Local 1189 last January, shortly after a group of workers confronted management about its attendance policy. Garrigan said workers were being docked points for staying home when sick, even when they had a doctor’s note.

“We tried doing things the official way, through the market,” she said. “And we just weren’t being heard.”

Frustration boiled over after a round of restructuring earlier this year – in which the co-op eliminated its butcher shop and reassigned meatcutters to other jobs – took workers by surprise.

“There was no consultation, no conversation,” Garrigan said. “Essentially, all the butchers and people in the meat department got demoted, and we lost a lot of good people because they left to do the jobs they wanted to do.

“That really solidified the need for a union.”

Within months, a majority of Mississippi Market workers had signed union-authorization cards, and supporters marched on their store managers Sept. 19 to request voluntary recognition of the bargaining unit.

Management refused, leaving workers to petition the National Labor Relations Board for an election. But before that vote was even scheduled, workers succeeded in turning out member-owners to speak in support of the union during the co-op board of directors’ meeting Sept. 24.

Garrigan believes the show of support discouraged management from employing the kind of “aggressive” anti-union tactics it used during an unsuccessful organizing drive in 2018.

“I don’t know how it could have gone, but I do think that shoppers helped the market know they were being held accountable,” Garrigan said. “Coming in straight away with strong community support sent a wonderful message.”

Public support for unions is at a 60-year high point, according to Gallup, and the retail sector, in particular, has seen a wave of organizing activity, from Trader Joe’s and REI to Starbucks and Apple Stores.

Mississippi Market workers are among about 300 new members who have joined Local 1189 in the last decade, thanks to successful organizing drives at Half Price Books, a local climbing gym and in the medical cannabis industry.

Retail workers are looking to unions for stability, accountability from management and better compensation, Local 1189 President Adam Evenstad said.

“Most workers coming to us feel that they are undercompensated for the market, and they’re right,” Evenstad said. “Through negotiation they’ve been able to make great strides in wages and benefits, but a lot of the contracts we’ve bargained have created policies that will make their workday better in general and a process to sit down and work out day-to-day issues, too.”

Younger retail workers, Garrigan added, are tired of being taken for granted by their employers.

“If people aren’t going to listen, it’s important that we get involved and make them,” she said. “There are a lot of things the average person doesn’t have much control over, but unionizing was something I could do, something I could do to make my community better.”

Evenstad said he doesn’t think the wave of interest in retail unions has peaked. In fact, he hinted that Local 1189 may have more organizing drives to announce soon.

“We’re working on our next victories already, and it’s our expectation that those are going to come with this surge of young hungry workers that want more voice and more power in their workplace.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

Workers keep pressure on Half Price Books for a fair first contract

May 26, 2023 by

Workers outside the Roseville store last weekend included (L to R) Garrett Hoffman, Max Sparks, Terell Paris, Hanna Anderson, Aaron Kerr and Bill Lloyd.

Nearly 18 months into bargaining their first union contract, workers at four Half Price Books locations in the Twin Cities are enlisting customer and public support to push their talks across the finish line.

Union members, who began holding public actions outside union stores last weekend, say the bookseller developed a case of writer’s block when it came time to draft economic terms of the contract.

The union’s bargaining team delivered its proposal for wages and benefits earlier this year, said Aaron Kerr, who has over 25 years of experience with the company.

“We were expecting them to counter on that offer two months ago, and they have not,” Kerr said Sunday outside the Roseville store where he works. “They stalled. They brought in a new lawyer, who pretended to not know what we wanted.”

With talks set to resume May 30, union members began appealing to customers outside the Coon Rapids and Roseville stores last weekend. The actions will continue from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday at the St. Louis Park store and at the same time Sunday outside the St. Paul store, located in Highland Park.

“We’re handing out stickers and bookmarks, just telling everybody about what’s going on with our negotiations and asking for their support,” Kerr said. “We want to put some pressure on the company, and hopefully then we can get back to business.”

Workers at all four stores are bargaining jointly with Half Price Books, with representation from the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The talks had been productive before reaching the economic phase, with the two sides reaching tentative agreements on language regarding workplace health and safety, grievance procedures and scheduling.

Other tentative agreements would prevent managers from filling jobs that would take hours away from workers in union shops, and would clearly establish a process, based primarily on seniority, for potential layoffs.

Kerr said supporters are welcome to show their solidarity inside or outside the stores this weekend, or by signing workers’ petition demanding a living wage and fair benefits.

Half Price Books workers in Roseville and St. Paul went public with their union drive in October 2021 after a round of layoffs that, workers said, were handled arbitrarily and left their stores with inadequate staffing. The union bug spread to Coon Rapids and St. Louis Park in the months that followed.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Half Price Books workers ready to bargain after victory in St. Louis Park

January 7, 2022 by

(Photo from MN Bookstore Workers United’s Facebook feed.)

In an election certified yesterday by the National Labor Relations Board, workers at Half Price Books in St. Louis Park won recognition of their union, joining workers at three other Twin Cities locations who voted to organize a month earlier.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663, which supported the organizing drive, said workers in St. Louis Park look forward to bargaining a contract with “livable wages, better working conditions and a seat at the table.”

Minneapolis-based Local 663 and UFCW Local 1189, based in the east metro and Duluth, have partnered on the groundbreaking union drive at the nationwide chain of booksellers. Workers at four of the Twin Cities’ six Half Price books locations, including Coon Rapids, Roseville and St. Paul, have now unionized, the first in the country to do so.

Each Half Price Books shop employs about 15 workers who are eligible to join the union.

Kristin Tamayo, a bookseller at the St. Louis Park store, said it’s exciting to be part of a “movement happening right now with booksellers and other members of the working class across the country.”

“We’re happy we organized a union so we can have protection of our jobs, benefits and equal treatment for all in our workplace,” Tamayo added. “Now we will have a voice at work and a seat at the table when it comes to making decisions that directly affect us and our wellbeing.”

Union members at the four stores will seek to bargain their first contracts jointly with Half Price Books. Talks are likely to begin this winter.

Those negotiations, like the organizing work that preceded them, will be led by Half Price Books workers themselves, Local 1189 representative Claire Van den Berghe said.

“From the start this has been a worker-led campaign where the workers call the shots,” she said. “They run their own social media, they make their own decisions, and we intend for bargaining to go the same way. It’s their voice at the table.”

The union drive has energized Half Price Books workers like Hanna Anderson, who works at the St. Paul store. She said that momentum will carry over into contract talks with the company.

“We’re excited to unionize because we’ve been working so hard throughout the pandemic and faced huge challenges – like low staffing levels, on-the-spot training, overwhelming workloads – all while risking COVID exposure every day we go into work.

“Through it all, we’ve stuck together. We all want to continue working at HPB, and it’s exactly because we enjoy working here that we want to unionize and make it a place that we can sustainably stay employed long term.”

Follow Half Price Books workers’ contract campaign on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Nationwide campaign to fight cancer launches at Twin Cities union grocers

March 16, 2018 by

Union retail workers are teaming up with area grocers and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this month to fight cancer, forging a bond they hope will catch on nationwide.

The Labor Against Cancer campaign will encourage customers at several union grocery stores to donate $1 or more at checkout, with proceeds supporting cancer research and copay support. The campaign runs from St. Patrick’s Day through March 31.

The United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents retail workers nationwide, has a 36-year relationship with the LLS, and union members have raised over $86 million for the organization over that time.

But the new campaign, piloted by UFCW locals 1189 and 653, brings union employers and their customers into the fold, with hopes of expanding the fundraising drive’s public profile – and improving its results.

“What we realized is that we had a huge opportunity to engage not only our union friends but their employers, their retailers to be a part of a movement to end blood cancer,” Kay Skonieczny, a vice president at LLS, said. “UFCW is powering our movement, and we’re inviting unions of all types to join us.”

UFCW Local 1189 President Jennifer Christensen and member Dean Nelson of South St. Paul join a Labor Against Cancer kickoff event.

Jennifer Christensen, president of St. Paul-based UFCW Local 1189, credited participating employers for “taking the big leap to work with us” on the campaign.

Blood cancer survivors from both local unions attended a campaign kickoff event at the LLS chapter’s Minneapolis offices Thursday. Dean Nelson, a meat cutter in the Midway Cub Foods, said his recovery from chronic myeloid leukemia diagnosis was “a walk in the park” thanks to lifesaving medication discovered as a result of LLS-funded research.

And the medication was affordable, Nelson added, because of his union-negotiated health insurance. He pays $15 per paycheck toward premiums and a $600 copay on medication that costs $176,000 per year.

“Collective bargaining is why I am where I am today,” Nelson said. “If I worked for Target, if I worked for Wal-Mart, they would have dumped me into public assistance.”

Raising awareness of union retailers, Christensen said, is an added bonus of the Labor Against Cancer campaign. “I think it’s important that we set our union employers apart from some of the competition, in the way that they support the folks that work there,” she said.

Participating retailers in the East Metro include Cub Foods, Jerry’s, Lunds and Byerlys, and Oxendales. [Click for participating sites in the East Metro and West Metro.]

“You’re going to hear a lot about Labor Against Cancer in the future,” Skonieczny said. “You can all know that it started right here in Minnesota.”

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Protesters say Trump, Walmart share the same values

October 28, 2016 by

web-walmart-trump2From selling goods manufactured overseas to avoiding federal taxes, Walmart and Donald Trump have a lot in common. In fact, it’s a connection so strong that Walmart sells products promoting Trump’s presidential campaign on its website.

Nearly 50 people connected the dots between Trump and Walmart at a protest Monday in St. Paul’s Midway shopping district, sponsored by the worker group Making Change at Walmart and two locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Tami Denn-Bauer, a representative with UFCW Local 1189, calls out Trump and Walmart for hawking foreign-made goods.

Tami Denn-Bauer, a representative with UFCW Local 1189, calls out Trump and Walmart for hawking foreign-made goods.

Jennifer Christensen, president of St. Paul-based UFCW Local 1189, pointed to a particularly disturbing thing Walmart and Trump have in common: accusations that they treat women poorly.

Since Trump admitted to “locker room talk” about making unwanted advances on women, at least 10 women have stepped forward with claims the Republican nominee sexually harassed or assaulted them.

Walmart, meanwhile, was accused of sex discrimination in one of the largest class action lawsuits ever, dismissed in a narrow, 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We are here to tell Walmart to take responsibility and show that they respect women in America by denouncing Donald Trump’s offensive, misogynistic rhetoric,” St Christensen said.

“The very notion that a large corporation operates stores in our neighborhoods and is complicit in the promotion of the denigration of women is unconscionable and offensive, and it will not be tolerated. We demand change at Walmart, and we demand it today.”

Several corporations, including Macy’s, NBC Universal and NASCAR, have publicly distanced themselves from Trump’s rhetoric.

The protest in St. Paul was among several nationwide this week. Others took place in Phoenix, New York, Chicago and elsewhere.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Grocery union launches campaign to hold Hy-Vee accountable for ‘good jobs’

October 5, 2015 by
These signs are popping up around the Twin Cities as part of a joint campaign between UFCW locals based in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

These signs are popping up in lawns across the Twin Cities as part of a joint campaign run by UFCW locals based in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

As Hy-Vee moves into the Twin Cities market, union grocery workers are rolling out a campaign to hold the supermarket chain to local standards for “good jobs.”

That means high wages, guaranteed schedules, affordable health care and retirement plans – and the security of a union contract.

“The ability to negotiate guaranteed wage increases, hours of work and benefits allow our members to take care of their families and strengthen our communities,” UFCW Local 1189 Secretary-Treasurer Jennifer Christensen said. “We are committed to making all retail grocery jobs really good jobs, meaning life-sustaining ones.”

Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers staff grocery chains across the Twin Cities, including Cub Foods, Kowalski’s, Festival, Rainbow and Lunds and Byerly’s. These union shops represent “an oasis in the world of low-wage retail,” Christensen said.

Indeed, annual raises for members of Local 1189 who work in East Metro grocery stores take effect today, with part-time workers seeing a 45-cent hourly increase, keeping them on track to reach $14.90 per hour, according to the union. Full-time grocery clerks and journeyman meat cutters will see 50-cent raises, with senior clerks moving to $23.58 and cutters to $25.10.

Christensen said Local 1189 and Minneapolis-based UFCW Local 653 plan to reach out to Hy-Vee workers looking to organize for comparable wages and benefits.

But the chain, which so far has opened stores in New Hope and Oakdale, presents a unique challenge for union organizers. As an ESOP, Hy-Vee grants workers small shares in the company’s ownership structure as part of their compensation.

Of course, owning a few shares of stock is no guarantee of good wages, fair schedules or security at work. ESOP workers are able to organize for a voice on the job – a union – just like any other grocery store employee.

To drive home that message – and to warn Hy-Vee against interfering with workers’ efforts to join a union – the UFCW locals are teaming up on a “Union Jobs Are Good Jobs” campaign. Supporters are sending postcards to Hy-Vee management and workers, and lawn signs are popping up in neighborhoods across the Metro.

Click here to sign a petition in support of the “Union Jobs Are Good Jobs” campaign.

Click here to learn more about hosting a lawn sign.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Still waiting on back pay, former workers spoil grocer’s grand reopening

May 6, 2015 by
Workers hold informational picketing outside Victoria's Market, formerly Fresh Seasons Market.

Workers hold informational picketing outside Victoria’s Market, formerly Fresh Seasons Market.

When Fresh Seasons Markets in Victoria and Glen Lake closed a year ago, owner Tom Wartman failed to pay his employees the vacation and personal-holiday pay they had earned, their union alleges.

Local 653 of the United Food and Commercial Workers has taken legal action to recoup workers’ pay, and the union’s Health, Welfare and Pension Fund trustees are suing Fresh Seasons to recover benefit contributions never paid.

In the meantime, Wartman has teamed with local investors who own the Victoria and Glen Lake properties to reopen the stores under new names: Victoria’s Market and Glen Lake’s Market.

It’s a move Wartman’s former employees aren’t watching silently.

As the stores opened their doors this month, workers and their supporters were on hand to distribute fliers denouncing Wartman’s failure to pay them what they’re owed, Local 653 President Matt Utecht said in a public letter.

“If Tom Wartman wants the stores to reopen with community support, he should start by doing right by those community members who used to work for him,” Utecht said.

Click here to read Utecht’s full letter.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , ,

Lawmaker calls on Target to follow Walmart’s lead, raise workers’ wages

February 24, 2015 by
Rep. Joe Atkins

Rep. Joe Atkins

After relentless pressure from workers and the community, Walmart announced last month it will raise minimum pay for its workers to $9 an hour in April and $10 an hour by February 2016.

Now, one Minnesota lawmaker is calling on Minneapolis-based Target to follow Walmart’s lead.

Rep. Joe Atkins, lead DFLer on the Minnesota House Commerce Committee, issued a statement today urging Target to include a commitment to raising wages to $10 per hour in its announcement of fourth-quarter earnings tomorrow.

Wal-Mart’s announcement that it will be increasing its lowest employee wage to $10 per hour is not only welcome news for Wal-Mart employees, but good for business at Wal-Mart, good for the retail industry generally, and good for the State of Minnesota.

Atkins, who represents House District 52B in the southeast Metro, cited research by MIT professor Zeynep Ton, an expert on the retail sector, who found that businesses that make an investment in their retail workforce find that well-paid, knowledgeable, and experienced employees are a sales driver. Atkins also pointed to high-wage retailer Costco, where sales per employee are double that of low-wage rivals.

“It may seem counterintuitive, but retailers that pay higher wages make more money. Overwhelming evidence shows paying higher wages in the retail sector results in higher sales and higher productivity.”

Walmart’s decision to raise its minimum wage will benefit 500,000 hourly associates nationwide. It’s a reaction to a steady wave of organizing among Walmart associates, including strikes in more than 100 cities last year, the United Food and Commercial Workers union said.

“This is not an act of corporate benevolence,” UFCW President Marc Perrone said. “It would not have been possible without the courage of countless workers who are standing together, taking risks, and demanding wages and schedules that can support their families. Walmart is responding directly to calls from workers and their allies to pay a living wage.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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