Guitar Center Workers Ratify New Agreement Maintaining Commission Structure

Workers at the Guitar Center New York flagship store celebrate their new

 contract. Photo from RWDSU.

Guitar Center Workers Ratify New Agreement Maintaining Commission Structure

Retail Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU) members at six Guitar Center locations recently ratified a new three-year agreement! The new contract is chock full of worker wins! The deal includes an increased minimum wage rate for every position, which continues to go up every year of the agreement. Tenured employees received an additional seniority wage adjustment. The contract also maintains the union health plan, with the addition of a short-term disability benefit.

Other highlights include an updated attendance policy that changes the grace period for lateness from 5 minutes to 15 minutes and the ability to call additional labor-management meetings during the year. The deal also gives current workers a leg up on moving positions within Guitar Center; going forward, when new part-time and full-time positions become available in the bargaining unit, the manager will be required to share the listing with current workers five days ahead of advertising the job to the public.

Importantly for sales associates and repair technicians, the contract maintains the current commission structure – unlike the non-union Guitar Center stores, where commission payouts have been slashed across the company. That’s the union difference!

Congratulations to all the Guitar Center workers for sticking together for a fair deal! You can visit unionized employees at the Guitar Center stores in Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Danvers, MA; Las Vegas, NV; New York, NY; and Queens, NY.

Note: The post above comes from RWDSU. We have several Guitar Center stores ion our region, including one in Keizer, one in Beaverton, one in Clackamas, and one in North Portland. RWDSU is also organizing workers at REI.