Hachette staff launch largest trade publishing union drive

Workers at Hachette Book Group, the third-largest trade publisher in the United States, have announced plans to unionize, marking what organizers describe as the largest union effort in the history of trade publishing.

The newly formed Hachette Workers Coalition is seeking to affiliate with the Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild, part of the Communications Workers of America. The campaign has already secured hundreds of signed union authorization cards, according to workers, signaling substantial support among employees across the company’s offices and remote workforce in the United States and Canada. 

If recognized, the bargaining unit would include more than 600 workers. Organizers have filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board while also requesting voluntary recognition from the company, saying they hope to move quickly to bargaining.

Organizers say the push to unionize follows years of mounting frustration over working conditions, pay, and job security at the publishing giant. The coalition is calling for a range of workplace reforms, including a livable wage regardless of geographic location, limits on workload hours, stronger benefits and protections, and a transparent grievance process. 

Workers are also seeking safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence, which has increasingly become a central issue in publishing. 

‘Long and rich history’ of organizing

Julia DeVarti, an associate editor at Little, Brown and Company and a spokesperson for the campaign, told The Chief the organizing effort builds on a “long and rich history” of worker mobilization within Hachette. Employees previously staged a 2020 walkout protesting the publication of Woody Allen’s memoir and organized in 2022 to reshape the company’s return-to-office policy.

“After those successes, we realized we could move the company on these issues,” DeVarti said. “There was a moment of asking, are we going to keep doing something with this now that we’ve built this organizing power? And that’s when the focus on unionization came together.”

In the years since, they said, layoffs and increasing workloads have intensified pressure on remaining staff, contributing to what workers describe as a “revolving door” environment, adding that remaining employees were often left to absorb additional work.

Among the coalition’s priorities are higher wages, clearer promotion pathways and protections against excessive workloads, which, the coalition says, the publishing industry has a reputation of demanding. Workers are also pushing for a more transparent grievance process and greater say over workplace policies, which DeVarti described as making the workplace more “democratic.”

AI concerns centered

Artificial intelligence has also emerged as a key issue in the campaign.

DeVarti said workers are seeking to establish protections before the technology becomes more widespread in publishing – whether for editing, transcription or writing. “We want to be preemptive, not reactive,” they said. “We don’t want anyone to lose their jobs because the company decides it’s cheaper to replace them with AI.”

They added that the union will try to ensure that employees would not be required to use AI, in an effort to expedite their work, and also delineate clear protocols regarding an author’s use of AI. DeVarti mentioned a recent case where there was uncertainty if an author used AI to write a manuscript and how the publishers could verify its authenticity, leading to frustration for the employees at the lack of precise guidelines. 

In response to the unionization drive, a spokesperson for management said in a statement it is “aware of employee interest in unionization and respects employees’ rights to engage in that process,” adding that it remains committed to “open dialogue.”

In public statements, employees describe an industry increasingly defined by intensifying workloads and stagnant compensation, even as publishing houses expand and see strong financial results. Andy Wang, a designer at Workman, criticized what they called a “profit-driven” model that has led to layoffs, diminished workplace stability and a rollback of flexible work policies.

The union campaign has been structured to include workers across all office locations and remote roles, but DeVarti noted that conditions in New York—long the center of the publishing industry—remain a key concern. “If New York is where the industry is centered, then we need compensation that makes it possible to live here,” they said, pointing to the gap between publishing salaries and the city’s cost of living.

According to the Hachette Worker’s Coalition, the effort represents a broader strategic push by the NewsGuild to expand unionization in the publishing sector, an industry where organized labor has historically been limited. DeVarti said workers see the campaign as both a workplace effort and an industry-wide intervention.

“We want to change Hachette for the better,” they said. “But we also understand that this is a historic moment. A rising tide lifts all ships.”