Strand Bookstore workers went on strike Saturday, with dozens of union members picketing all day outside the East Village location to demand higher wages and equitable paid time off for all employees.

Demonstrators circled in front of the bookstore, chanting and heckling passers-by who cut through the picket to enter the store. Members of the union representing Strand Bookstore employees, UAW Local 2179, told WSN that the strike and picket began in the wake of the union’s contract expiring on Nov. 28 and is set to continue until a new agreement is reached. 

Andrew Stando, an organizer for the union’s bargaining committee, said that there is no scheduled date for the group to bargain a new contract with the company and that he expects the strike — the bookstore’s first in three decades — to continue for at least one week. 

“The worst part about Strand is that I like it,” Stando, who has worked at the bookstore for over a year, said in an interview with WSN. “On the whole, conditions are not too bad, but the problem is I want to stay here for a long time — which is why I want to be paid enough to make that a viable option.” 

The union’s contract with Strand Bookstore initially expired in late August and saw two separate one-month extensions into October. Stando said many of the union members felt that the company was prolonging the negotiations process and elected to extend the contract — which prohibited employees from going on strike — until Thanksgiving Day so that it would expire just ahead of the holiday season, during which U.S. bookstores made over 20% of their annual profits in 2023. 

UAW Local 2179 members are demanding that the company raise starting wages for employees above minimum wage, which is currently $16 an hour in New York. The group cited that Nancy Bass Wyden, the third-generation owner of Strand Bookstore, allocated $5 million in wages for its 140 union employees in 2019 — but will only spend $3.5 million across 90 union members in 2024, despite the raised minimum wage rate. Tania Boch and Lily Strassberg, who have both worked at the store since August 2023, told WSN that the union successfully negotiated for a 32-cent wage increase in March. However, they said that their hourly $16.32 salary is still unsustainable for the store’s full-time employees in New York City. 

Last month, Strand Bookstore employees and other unionized bookstore workers in the city joined Barnes & Noble employees as they fought to reach a union contract by the end of 2024 at a rally in Union Square. The Barnes & Noble workers’ union holds similar demands as UAW 2179, including for more paid time off and increased starting wages, which amNew York reported as $18 an hour.  

About six hours into Saturday’s picket, demonstrators were joined by Zohran Mamdani — a New York State assemblymember and mayoral candidate in the city’s 2025 election — who voiced his support for the union to the crowd before joining the picket line. In an interview with WSN, Mamdani said he is committed to supporting the Strand Bookstore workers’ union in whatever capacity possible. 

“It’s truly embarrassing that an institution like the Strand still has so many workers that are only being paid minimum wage,” Mamdani said. “For an institution like this to be participating in that kind of poverty wage — all while embracing an iconography that is seemingly progressive — it’s ridiculous.” 

Paul Colarusso, communications director at Strand Bookstore and NYU alum, said that the administrative team is dedicated to keeping the business successful and representing over 150 employees.  

“We respect and value our staff, and we have made sizable economic offers during this contract negotiation accordingly,” Colarusso said in a statement to WSN. “The union has not been willing to accept those increases so far. We will continue to bargain in good faith and target a compromise that creates a bright future for the company, our employees and customers.” 

Guinevere Fullerton, a member of the strike’s organizing committee who has worked at Strand Bookstore for about two years, said the group is also demanding that the company drop its proposal to change how it allocates paid time off. Although employees currently receive nine days annually in paid time off, Strand Bookstore is seeking to bring it down to seven days for employees who have worked at the store for less than three years.  

Ahead of the picket — which was scheduled to take place from the store’s opening at 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. — the bookstore’s management team announced that the shop would close at 7 p.m. instead of its typical 9 p.m. schedule. Organizers told WSN that the store also promoted a last-minute sale on tote bags on Saturday, a rare occurrence that they claimed was the management’s attempt to entice customers to shop at the store despite the picketers’ pleas. 

Stando said that throughout the monthslong bargaining process, the union has reached tentative agreements with the company on some of the group’s other demands, including implementing a policy that allows employees to get an excused absence in emergency situations and more leniency on vacation requests. He added that the union — which may later picket at the Upper West Side Strand Bookstore location or at the shop’s warehouse in Brooklyn — also held an informational picket on Nov. 14 outside of the East Village store.

Fullerton said that for the most part, customers who approached the East Village location during the picket adhered to the demonstrators’ requests that people avoid shopping at the bookstore. 

“I love working here, I love working with kids and I love the environment that we have — but when I get home and I go to my paycheck, there’s nothing,” Fullerton said. “The Strand is a staple of New York City, but it is not a staple of the employees that actually work here.”

Contact Aashna Miharia at [email protected].