8.3.1 What happened with Borders Bookstore
Description
This article is from the Michael Moore FAQ, by Edward Champion edchamp@slip.net with numerous contributions by others.
8.3.1 What happened with Borders Bookstore
In the film we hear Moore explaining what happened at the Philadelphia
bookstore that caused the dispute between himself and Borders
Management. This article, published in The Nation, explains the event
in greater detail.
Banned by Borders
By Michael Moore
On November 9, as I write this, I was supposed to have been at the Borders
bookstore in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, speaking and signing copies of my book
Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American. It was to have
been the final stop of my forty-seven-city tour. But on October 30 I was told
that the book-signing had been canceled. The Fort Lauderdale Borders had
received a memo from its corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
banning me from speaking or signing at any Borders store in the country.
When I was growing up in Michigan, the original Borders was a store that
actively championed free expression. In fact, when I was publishing the
Michigan Voice, Borders would carry my paper when other establishments
would not. Now, Borders is a huge nationwide chain, and its "liberal" views
have earned it the reputation as the "Ben & Jerry's of the book chains."
So why was I banned from Borders? My book was doing well. It has been on
the New York Times best-seller list for a month and was the number two
best-selling Random House book for the entire Borders chain. I've been
banned, I found out, because I made the mistake of uttering a five-letter word the dirtiest word in all of corporate America -- "union."
Back in September, on the second day of my tour, when I arrived at the Borders
store in downtown Philadelphia, I found nearly 100 people picketing the place
because Borders had fired a woman named Miriam Fried. She had led a drive
to organize workers at the store into a union. The effort failed, and, a few
weeks later, Miriam was given the boot.
When I found this out I told the Borders people that I have never crossed a
picket line and would not cross this one. I asked the demonstrators if they
wanted to take the protest inside. They thought it was a good idea. I had no
desire to cause a ruckus, so I asked Borders management if it was O.K. to allow the protesters in. They said yes. So we all came into the store, I gave my talk
,I gave Miriam the microphone so she could talk, everyone behaved themselves
and it was a good day all around -- including for Borders, which ended up
selling a lot of books, breaking the record for a noontime author at that
location. (The record had been held by George Foreman, and I now like to tell
people only Ali and I have beaten Foreman.) I also announced that I would
donate all my royalties for the day to help Miriam out.
Although Anne Kubek, Borders' corporate V.P. in charge of labor relations,
had approved my bringing the protesters inside, upper management decided
that she had made a mistake -- and they were going to take it out on me. On
the following Tuesday I was scheduled to speak at the new Borders store in
New York's World Trade Center. When I arrived, I was met by two Borders
executives. They had flown in from Michigan just to stop me from speaking.
The executives, flanked by two security guards, explained that I could come
into the store and sign books, but I would not be allowed to talk to the people who had come to hear me. They said that the "commotion" I had caused in
Philly raised "security concerns." I couldn't believe I was being censored in a bookstore.
The Borders manager told the assembled crowd that I would not be speaking
because "Port Authority police and fire marshals have banned all daytime
gatherings at Borders." When I heard this, I stepped forward and told the
people this was a lie, that I was forbidden to speak because of my support for
the workers in Philly. Under protest, I signed the books of those who stayed -- beneath a big banner celebrating "Banned Books Week."
On October 13, I spoke to a large crowd in a Des Moines auditorium. After the
speech I went out front and started signing books. "What store are these from?" I innocently asked. "Oh, these are from the local Borders," I was told. Well, I thought, they don't mind if I make them some money -- as long as it's not on
their premises! Then someone slipped me an anonymous note. It read: "We are
employees of the Des Moines Borders. We were told that we could not work
the book table tonight, that only management was working the table, because
they said they wanted to 'protect us' from you."
An hour later, I went out to the parking lot and saw some people standing there in the dark -- the employees from the Des Moines Borders! They said they
were hiding out there because they had spotted Borders' regional director with
another man inside. "He flew in to spy on you, or us, or both," they told me.
"He saw us so we may not have jobs on Monday." (Bookstore employees afraid
they might be fired for attending a public speech at the Herbert Hoover High
School auditorium!) The executive had not introduced himself to me -- or his
colleague, who employees believe is a unionbusting "consultant" hired by
Borders.
I wished the workers well, and the next night they held their first union
meeting. The previous week, the Borders store in the Lincoln Park section of
Chicago had become the first Borders in the country to vote in a union (United
Food and Commercial Workers). Recently, workers in Des Moines signed
enough cards to hold a union election. It is a victory that should inspire not
only Borders workers but underpaid employees everywhere. That's why I am
not in Fort Lauderdale as I write this. Borders is "protecting" its workers
from me.
Well, they're really going to need protection now. First, I am donating my
royalties from the next 1,000 sales of Downsize This! to the organizing drive
at Borders. Second, I am asking each of you to support the Borders workers in
your city. Bring up the union when you're in the store and thank that kid with
the nose ring and green hair for helping to revive the labor movement in
America.
After this was published, Moore recieved a letter from Joe Gable, which
attacked Moore's version of the events at the Philidelphia store. Moore
responded to this letter as follows.
Continue to:
My Books
