RAFFWU actively represents members in bookstores every day of every week. We have members at Harry Hartog, Berkelouw Books, Dymocks, QBD, Gleebooks, Readings, Book Grocer, Kinokuniya and many other bookstores.

In 2021 and 2022, our members at Better Read Than Dead bookstore in Newtown, Sydney ran a landmark industrial campaign to secure the best retail enterprise agreement in Australia. Find out more about that campaign below.

We are a dynamic and growing union looking to involve members in our workplace campaigns, and we have expert advocates and experienced campaigners helping members secure the best possible outcomes.

RAFFWU represents our members every day of every week in dealing with disputes over rosters, wages, safety and many other issues.

Members need to have joined before an issue arise to get help with that issue. Be sure to join now so that you get the industrial advice and support you need, when you need it.

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Harry Hartog & Berkelouw Books* Members Strike!

RAFFWU members at Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books* stores in Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane are campaigning for a new Enterprise Agreement. For over a decade an old zombie cafe agreement has stripped many minimum conditions. Now workers are implementing industrial action and taking strike action to secure the conditions they deserve. Support the RAFFWU Strike Fund at  chuffed.org/project/hhbb

Note, a dfferent and separate business trading as Berkeluw Books Eumundi, Balgowlah and Book Barn Berrima are not involved and open for business.

RAFFWU Members at Harry Hartog and Berkelouw Books Are Taking Action For A Fair Agreement 

A group photograph of eight workers and union members from the bookstore Better Read Than Dead. Four are seated on a couch and four are standing behind. All are wearing black t-shirts with the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union logo in white, red and black.

Better Read Than Dead workers win

RAFFWU members at Better Read Than Dead bookstore in Newtown, Sydney won the best retail enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) in Australia due to their landmark industrial campaign, which lasted from 2020 to 2022.

The agreement won by workers at Better Read includes conversion rights for casuals, the restoration of weekend penalty rates, the abolition of junior rates after probationary periods, policies on workplace harassment and bullying, 26 weeks’ paid parental leave, 20 days of paid domestic leave, and more.

Read more below on how the booksellers at Better Read fought and won their inspiring campaign — a campaign that shows how militant industrial organising in the retail sector is possible.

Prior to the start of their industrial campaign in 2020, workers at Better Read were required to fulfil a range of work tasks, from podcasting to social media to running book clubs, despite only being paid at retail Level 1. There was high staff turnover at the store and little to no job security, with the majority of workers employed as casuals.

Workers at the store began to organise in 2020 for better pay and conditions. Throughout their campaign they faced significant pushback from management, including cease-and-desist orders for sharing social media posts about the union, threatened termination, the retrenchment of key union members at the store and a lockout of workers. Despite this, RAFFWU members at the store stayed strong.

In June of 2021, RAFFWU members at Better Read made history by becoming the first retail workers in 50 years, outside of supermarket meat workers, to win a Protected Action Ballot Order in an Australian workplace. Members then implemented partial work bans in July 2021. Store management responded with a lockout of workers, which was halted after 24 hours.

Community support for workers

The courageous campaign by workers for an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) at Better Read won significant community support. A May 1 online forum during 2021 attracted hundreds of supporters, including statements of solidarity from unions including the MUA and CFMEU. Striking ASU members in the Geelong public library system also offered their solidarity.

An open letter organised by writers Alison Whittaker and Anwen Crawford, along with cartoonist Sam Wallman, attracted hundreds of signatures from Australian and international authors in support of the booksellers at Better Read. A community rally in November 2021 in Newtown saw hundreds of people gather in solidarity with workers, including customers of the store, unionists and local residents. A strike fund in support of the workers raised more than $22,000 in donations.

It took two years of organising for workers at Better Read to win their EBA, after management reneged on an in-principle deal made in late 2021. In July 2022 the deal was finally approved at the Fair Work Commission.

That agreement gives Better Read workers some of the best conditions for retail employees in Australia. The workers at Better Read have shown us that collective action gets results, and their example now stands as a model and an inspiration for retail workers across Australia who are fighting for a living wage, secure job conditions and dignity in the workplace.

RAFFWU – Fighting For Your Rights in the Workplace