Murray responds to HarperCollins US strike action with open letter

HarperCollins president and c.e.o. Brian Murray has issued an open letter to the agents and authors who have contacted the company in support of ongoing strike action in the US calling for better pay and working conditions.

Negotiations between management and the union began in December 2021 and in October 2022 union members overwhelmingly voted for another strike, following a one day walk-out in July, to take place from 10th November.

Last month, more than 150 literary agents signed an open letter pledging not to submit new projects to HarperCollins US in support of workers at the company who are on strike.

Now, Murray – framing the conflict as with the United Auto Workers union – has said in an open letter: “We received letters from some of you and appreciate the passion you feel toward the HarperCollins employees on strike.

“We share your desire that an agreement be reached with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union representing our employees and have been negotiating in good faith for more than a year. While we don’t typically comment on negotiations, I feel we owe you a response and want to share some additional background.”

On the subject of pay he continues that since the company last reached an agreement with the UAW, it “made deliberate and substantial increases to employee pay, raising entry-level salaries by 25% over approximately three years,” citing “higher than usual merit increases” for employees earlier this year. The union is calling for a $50,000 base salary.

“All of these discretionary decisions were made independently of any demands by the United Auto Workers,” Murray said, adding: “Our current compensation offerings are consistent with our peers in the publishing industry. During recent negotiations, we proposed a fair and reasonable pay structure, including increases to entry-level salaries.

“Based on publicly available information, HarperCollins’s proposed compensation increases would provide for a higher starting salary than any other major New York publisher,” he continues. “As well, we offer a minimum of six and a half weeks paid time off for all full-time employees (increasing with tenure), four ‘work from anywhere’ weeks, overtime pay for those qualifying, and generous health and wellness benefits.”

He noted that the company was, “with the entire industry”, having to “contend with ongoing challenges to publishing and its underlying economics”, and that “the financial requests made by United Auto Workers, which are many and far reaching, fail to account for the market dynamics of the publishing industry and our responsibility to meet the financial demands of all our business stakeholders – including all employees, authors, and booksellers.”

He concludes that “we are disappointed an agreement has not yet been reached and we have not heard directly from union leadership about the contract since our last bargaining session.” He claims the UAW has mischaracterised the status of negotiations on social media, “when in reality the company extended an offer to union leadership to meet again before the strike began but was not taken up on this offer. HarperCollins remains ready and willing to continue our negotiations with the United Auto Workers and to reach agreement on a contract that is fair to both employees and the company.”

In response, UAW president Olga Brudastova told Publisher’s Weekly that HarperCollins had “once again attempted to third-party the Union and pick and choose numbers and facts to serve their argument that the strike is unjustified.”

“But we know this is not true, and our supporters, including authors and agents, know that as well. Our last exchange in negotiations was the company rejecting our comprehensive proposal that presented a clear pathway to a fair contract and addressed our core demands. It is disheartening that HarperCollins Publishers choose to hold on to their decision-making power even on issues like union security – a demand that doesn’t cost them any money and receives overwhelming support from our members,” she said.