MONTREAL, Nov. 14, 2023 /CNW/ - Earlier this fall, employees from the publishing team and booksellers of Drawn & Quarterly Inc. (D&Q) filed to unionize under the Fédération du commerce (FC–CSN) of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN). The union has now been certified by the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT) of Quebec, affirming the majority decision of D&Q employees, a broad coalition of arts and culture workers in the publishing and retail industries.
The members of the union take an immense pride in their work and in the trust the community places in D&Q, as a publisher of outstanding graphic novels, as thoughtfully curated bookstores, and as a thriving literary hub. In unionizing, the workers seek to foster transparent and reciprocal lines of communication between employees and employers, as well as secure a more active, consultative role in their employment conditions.
"We welcome the workers of Drawn & Quarterly. The Federation is proud to welcome such a committed group among its ranks. They make Drawn and Quarterly the essential institutions that they are," explains Serge Monette, vice-president of the Fédération du commerce (FC–CSN).
D&Q workers admire and commend their employers' dedication to compensating artists above current industry standards. This practice helps to cultivate conditions for exceptional publications, work that they are proud to promote. This admiration makes it all the more meaningful for the union to take an active stake in the company's present and future, to establish sustainable pathways to long-term employment.
The union appreciates that D&Q empowers its employees to make substantive decisions that impact the selection of titles published and stocked, the event programming, the retail experience at both bookstore locations, and their local, national, and international community of readers. They look forward to crafting with their employers a collective agreement that reflects the scope of their responsibilities.
"As booksellers, we are passionate about the work we do and grateful for the connection we have with our community. Being able to sustain this passion long-term means adapting to changes in the publishing and bookselling industry and, most importantly, to the economic challenges of this particular moment. Along with our colleagues at the office, we see ourselves as integral to D&Q's continued prominence in the Montreal literary landscape; we envision a successful and sustainable future for D&Q as indivisible from our individual and collective futures as workers." — Bookseller
"Working with the publishing team and D&Q authors is a joy. We often work long hours and engage with the comics industry outside of our jobs because we are passionate about bringing excellent comics to readers without additional compensation. While there are lots of opportunities to take on more responsibilities and learn more skills in the publishing office, there are rarely paths to promotion for assistants. It's hard to see or commit to a future if there are not transparent conversations about what all our learning and acquired skills might lead to. This is a concern for us in the office as well as for our colleagues in the stores. We need to be able to see futures for ourselves at D&Q, and to do that, we need salaries that sustain us and benefits that support us to continue to show up for our coworkers and authors." – Publishing assistant
SOURCE CSN
Camila Rodriguez-Cea, union adviser, 438 882-1275 or [email protected]
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