Podcast Summary: “The Campaign to Bust Chicago’s Only Bookstore Union”

It Could Happen Here – Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts
Episode Release Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Mia Wong
Guests: EZ and Finley (booksellers and union members at Seminary Co-op Bookstores, Chicago)

Overview

This episode dives into the ongoing struggle of the unionized booksellers at Chicago’s Seminary Co-op – a store whose name belies its current structure and whose progressive veneer contrasts with persistent, active union-busting tactics. Returning guests (EZ and Finley) lay bare a year of regressive bargaining, management obstruction, organizational chaos, and literal workplace dangers, while sharing insights into labor organizing and solidarity in one of the nation’s iconic bookstores.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What the Seminary Co-op Actually Is

• Seminary Co-op operates two stores in Hyde Park (Seminary Co-op, 57th Street Books).
• Once a true cooperative for theology students, it’s now a “not for profit” bookstore that is not a 501(c)(3), leading to financial and operational opacity.
  • EZ: “[Seminary Co-op is] a misnomer on two out of three counts. It's not a seminary anymore. It's not a co-op anymore. It is still a bookstore, although it is a not for profit bookstore, which is a mysterious category of business...” ([03:59])
• The store reorganized in 2019, dropping its cooperative status and shares; became “not for profit” but without clear nonprofit legal standing.

2. The Unionization Effort: Initial Hope and Immediate Obstacles

• Organized with the IWW in 2024, aiming for better wages and humane conditions.
• Initial management response was superficially supportive (“we recognize your union”) but shifted to endless stalling and attrition.
  • Finley: “They have sat on their hands ever since.” ([03:12])
• Management refuses to hire new full or part-time staff, instead relying heavily on “seasonal” workers to avoid bolstering union numbers and influence.

3. Financial Opacity and Wage Suppression

• Store’s financial condition is kept deliberately murky; management justifies low wages ($16.90/hour in Chicago, often with advanced degrees) citing “not for profit” status.
  • EZ: “Store financials have been so obscured... the rhetoric that justifies the pack that I’m paid $16.90 an hour, and I have a master’s of divinity...” ([07:52])
• Executive Director position pays $160,000/year—a sum only discovered after a formal info request that remains partly unmet ([10:09], [10:31]).
• Regular expenditures on “union-busting” lawyers and marginal tech replace investments in staff or infrastructure.

4. Managerial Attrition & Union-Busting Tactics

• Attrition as union-busting: workforce dropped from 25 (2024) to 11 (2025); management refuses replacements ([12:02]).
• Continuous reclassification of positions and “seasonal” jobs as a loophole to exclude workers from union eligibility ([12:41]).
• Bargaining stymied by regressive offers—shrinking contract terms, removal of hard-won gains (“best and final” offer is actually worse; [31:11]).
  • Finley: “Regressive bargaining is a dirty negotiation tactic where one side… unilaterally decides to change a term… and axing it.” ([31:23])
• Filing of unfair labor practices met with bureaucratic delays and NLRB dysfunction (no quorum post-GOP shutdown, indefinite delays; [33:31]).

5. Gaslighting, Chaos, and Management’s Responsibility Carousel

• Management blames the board; board claims no operational oversight; yet the board appoints the director, recommends the union-busting lawyer, and makes budget decisions ([21:29]).
• Finley: “There’s this responsibility carousel… [where] we can’t tell how involved the board is… we have asked repeatedly that they be involved in bargaining… and they have repeatedly refused.” ([21:31])
• Email and paperwork trails show shifting policies, denial of previous agreements, and intentional confusion to slow progress.

6. Direct Action and Community Visibility

• Union has staged several pickets and work stoppages—management disturbed but pretends to public that all is fine ([22:22], [34:13]).
  • EZ: “I remember our first work stop… management was very cool... the second time… we did it for an hour... it’s empowering…” ([34:13])
• Key actions scheduled for maximum impact—e.g. picketing first day of classes, engaging students as allies (“a lot of eat the rich from zillennials!” [36:28])
• Solidarity from other unions (Museum of Science & Industry, UChicago grad students) is vital for visibility and morale ([44:03], [47:11]).

7. Absurd Working Conditions: Mold, Dust, and Health Risks

• Discussion of active mold and severe dust problems at both store locations; lack of remediation has made staff ill.
  • EZ: “I can’t really breathe when I go into work. And I also don’t have health insurance. Right.” ([54:14])
• Management’s refusal to address health hazards merges literal physical endangerment with bureaucratic gaslighting ([56:56], [57:17]).
• EZ and Finley’s growing normalization of such hazards as a sign of deep, abusive workplace dysfunction.
  • Finley: “That doesn’t even land on our radar anymore because we’ve been just, like, banging our head against walls for a year.” ([58:41])

8. The Psychological Toll and the Abusive Partner Analogy

• Parallels drawn between workplace power imbalance, information control, and abusive relationships—leading to normalization of unacceptable conditions ([58:54]).
• Isolation, administrative stonewalling, and atomization are active tactics to sap morale and stymie collective action.

9. Why Stay? Why Keep Fighting?

• Despite all, workers persist because of personal connection to each other, the store, and the community ([62:01]).
  • EZ: “We're doing this because we love the stores... When you love something… you gotta be brave enough to wrestle with it... our unionizing is the right thing.” ([62:01])
• Hope in solidarity—staff, community, and aligned unions.
• The fight is ongoing, with prospect of victory building for other area bookshops and labor movements.

Action Items & How to Support the Union

• Sign the change.org petition: Demands removal of the union-busting lawyer and financial transparency ([64:02]).
• Follow on Instagram: @uncoopbooksellersunion, where updates and specific action items (emailing board/management, mold complaints, etc.) are posted ([64:10]).
• Visit and support: Go to the stores, talk to union booksellers, voice support, and raise issues with management.
• Wear a mask: for health safety in the store due to mold ([63:42])
• Direct outreach: Email board members, especially about the mold problem and push for fair contract and full financial disclosure.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On management’s wage excuse:
  “...the not for profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling...the rhetoric that really justifies the pay...$16.90 an hour, and I have a master's of divinity from the seminary of the seminary co op.” – EZ ([07:52])

• On the attrition tactic:
  “They are wearing down the number of people that they have to deal with and making the people who are left so tired and so frustrated and so much less capable of fighting them.” – Finley ([11:46])

• On regressive bargaining:
  “It is taking something that has been tentatively agreed upon and, like, in good faith...and axing it.” – Finley ([31:23])

• On the abusive partner analogy:
  “If a boyfriend does it to you, it's a red flag. But when your boss does it... it's the cost of business.” – EZ ([33:53])

• On mold, dust, and health:
  “I can't really breathe when I go into work. And I also don't have health insurance.” – EZ ([54:14])

• On why workers persist:
  “It's the people, and I think that's for a lot of folks who have stayed at the bookstore...it has been other booksellers, the folks that we've gotten to know through the community who do make a difference, at least for me, and whether or not I stay.” – EZ ([54:59])

Timestamps of Important Segments

• 02:16-04:22 – What the Seminary Co-op actually is; misleading name and business model.
• 06:34-08:33 – Transition from cooperative to dysfunctional nonprofit; issues with finances and donations.
• 10:09-11:46 – Executive compensation and misallocation of resources while union wages stagnate.
• 11:46-14:12 – Deliberate attrition, classification of seasonal/scab labor, and refusal to hire replacement staff.
• 21:29-22:06 – Management/Board responsibility “carousel” and opacity in negotiations.
• 31:11-34:13 – Management’s regressive bargaining and legal obstruction; unfair labor practices.
• 34:13-37:49 – Direct actions (work stoppages, pickets), their impact, and increased public support.
• 54:14-58:51 – Mold, health hazards, and normalizing workplace danger as an artifact of abuse.
• 61:29-63:23 – Why the fight continues, rooted in care for the store and community.

Final Thoughts

The episode blends the personal and political, interweaving everyday workplace indignities with larger truths about exploitation, solidarity, and the ongoing fight for dignity. Seminary Co-op workers refuse resignation to misery, organizing as an act of love for their bookstore, their own health, and the community.
If you’re in Chicago—or even just online—you can support their struggle right now (be sure to check the petition and IG in the episode description).