Powell's Rehires 49 Union Employees After Online Sales Surge

Due to an increase in online sales, Portland's Powell's Books has rehired some of the 340 staff members laid off earlier this month. Ed Nawotka at Publishers Weekly quotes a letter from CEO Emily Powell, in which she's said that "more than 100 people are now working at the company; of these, 49 are union employees that were rehired, ILWU confirmed, with the remaining staff representing management." More:

Powell added that the store has "made an internal commitment to only pay for expenses that keep folks employed, and the lights on, for the time being," but noted: "we can't do that forever—we love our vendors and business partners, and want to support them as well. Right now, however, our focus is on keeping Powell’s moving, keeping our community healthy, taking care of our wonderful customers and having as many folks working with health insurance as our sales can support."

The letter continued: "We don’t know what the future holds—none of us does. We’re going to keep the doors to Powells.com open as long as we can, and we will open the doors to all of our stores as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we are eternally grateful for your support. We love nothing more than connecting readers and writers, and sending books out the door to their new homes. Your orders allow us to keep working and keep our team of incredible booksellers employed."

Note that you are also encouraged in these times to buy directly from small publishers. More at PW.