The 57 workers at Guitar Center’s Manhattan retail store recently voted to form a union.
The national Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) orchestrated the win, which marks the first in a series of anticipated similar union votes around New York City and potentially the rest of the country.
RWDSU set their sites on Guitar Center late last year, after workers approached them complaining about worsening compensation, mostly in the form of falling sales commission.
In response, Guitar Center has launched a campaign to inform workers at non-union stores about the potential pitfalls of labor organising.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Guitar Center executive vice president of human resources, Dennis Haffeman said, “We always want to have a working environment that our folks love, and it’s unfortunate that we now have a third party involved. We’re constantly listening to our employees’ needs so that Guitar Center can be the best work environment in the music industry and, quite frankly, the best in retail.”
The GC locations in Brooklyn and Queens are expected to vote to join the union in the coming months.
Look for an interview with RWDSU’s organizing director, Phil Andrews, in the July issue of MMR…
