As fellow workers, colleagues, and friends in the university press, scholarly, nonprofit, and wider publishing industry, we write to express our solidarity with workers at Duke University Press (DUP) who are organizing to form a union so that they may better advocate for their rights, for equity, and for a democratized workplace at DUP. We know first hand the extraordinary and often unrecognized labor that is required of staff to encourage, edit, design, distribute, promote, and champion books, journals, and other work written for the public good rather than private gain. The outward appearance of mission-driven publishing often conceals the austere realities of work suspended between the marketplace and the university. Those who have worked in the publishing industry are all too familiar with such phenomena as extended vacancies, patterns of discrimination, and incommensurate compensation, among other issues outlined by the DUP Workers Union. Empowering workers is essential to challenging the structures underpinning these grievances and remaking publishing for the better.

We are encouraged and inspired by the bravery of our colleagues at DUP who are taking a stand and advocating for themselves and for justice at their workplace. We acknowledge the vital role DUP workers are playing in a larger movement to transform the industry—from warehouses, to printers, to bookstores, and libraries—and the value of their efforts not just in their own working lives, but to all of us. We urge Duke University and Duke University Press to recognize their union immediately, and negotiate a contract in good faith.

In Solidarity,

Brandon Proia, UNC Press
Dylan White, UNC Press
Andreina Fernandez, UNC Press
Julia Judge, Verso Books
Ben Mabie, Verso Books
Debbie Gershenowitz, UNC Press
D. S. Cunningham, University of Arkansas Press
Jessie Kindig, Verso Books
Lucas Church, UNC Press
Kristen Raddatz, University of Chicago Press
D. B. Ranslem, Verso Books
Chris Robinson, Cambridge University Press
Mike Baccam, University of Washington Press
Katryce Lassle, University of California Press
Marie Sweetman, Wayne State University Press
Adina Popescu Berk, Yale University Press
Margo Irvin, Stanford University Press
Jon Maunder, freelance book publicist
Angela Baggetta, freelance book publicist
María García, UNC Press
Anthony Zannino, MIT Press
Sonya Bonczek, UNC Press
Pete Beatty, University of Alabama Press
Alexa Colella, University of Illinois Press
Yashwina A Canter
Paige Clunie, Harvard University Press
Jay McNair, MIT Press
Dominique J. Moore, University of Illinois Press
Marge Encomienda, The MIT Press
Erin Hasley, The MIT Press
Nate Holly, University of Georgia Press
Suzi F. Garcia, Noemi Press
Megan Buiocchi
Caitlin Tyler-Richards, Michigan State University Press
Mihaela Pacurar, Harvard University Press
Eva L. Sotomayor, Seven Stories Press
Andrew Hnatow, University of Texas Press
Yelena Kalinsky, H-Net
Stephen Williams, Indiana University Press
Allison Paller, Seven Stories Press
Lauren Hooker, Seven Stories Press
Caelyn Cobb, Columbia University Press
Adriana Smith, University of Chicago Press
Rachael Levay, University Press of Colorado
Brian Halley, UMass Press
Linda Braus
Malav Kanuga
Derek Krissoff
Lauryl Fischer, Hackett Publishing
Anne Rumberger, Verso Books
Laurence Goodchild, Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Iván Pérez-Zayas
Matthew Somoroff, freelance editor
Walter Biggins, University of Pennsylvania Press
Avril Cuthbert, Edinburgh University Press
Val Hunt, Harvard University Press
Amy Medeiros, W. W. Norton
Paloma Escovedo, Oxford University Press
Kim Leichner, University of Pennsylvania Press
Mandy Medley
Melissa Gamble, UGA Press
Eric H Newman
Ruth Evans Lane, Getty Publications
Bronwyn Geyer, Oxford University Press
Cate Hodorowicz, UNC Press
Matthew Valades, MIT Press
Sarah Khalil, Kneerim & Williams
Christine Dunbar, Columbia University Press
Danny Vazquez, Astra House
Philip Leventhal, Columbia University Press
Marisa Pagano, Harvard University Press (2018)
Katy O'Donnell, freelance editor
Andrew Winters, UNC Press
Carrie Hsieh, Macmillan
Megan Kiddoo
Katja Moos
John McManus, Oxford University Press
Ben Gibson, Oxford University Press
George Currie
Brian Stone, Cambridge University Press
Grace Perri Barnes
Jude Roberts
Lauren Roberts, Macmillan
Faith Wilson Stein
Gina Mahalek, UNC Press (retired)
Rachel King
Amber Paez, Oxford University Press
Amy Invernizzi
Tomi Onabanjo, Macmillan Publishers
Alan Goldberg
Tiffany Lu, Oxford University Press
Rachel Perkins, Oxford University Press
Lauralee Yeary, Oxford University Press
Summer Farah, University of California Press
Liz Dresner, Macmillan
Catherine L Goldstead, Johns Hopkins University Press
Tom Harris, Cambridge University Press
Marcela Maxfield
Lowell Frye, Columbia University Press
Alexis Nowicki, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Janine Barlow, Macmillan
Lauren Hougen
Robert Cavooris, Oxford University Press
Alex Brown
Daniela Plunkett, Macmillan
Jenny Doster, Oxford University Press
Jenny Keegan, LSU Press
Katie Liptak, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Sydnee Monday
Scott Morales
Angie Hogan, University of Virginia Press
Naomi Farmer, Edinburgh University Press
Helena Heald, Edinburgh University Press
Oxford University Press Unite Branch
Jeffrey Sherwood, Oxford University Press
Abigail Schott-Rosenfield, No Starch Press
Jaime Burns, Oxford University Press
Clara Platter, NYU Press
Holly Mitchell, Oxford University Press
Jessica Barbour
Anne Trubek, Belt Publishing
Lauren Hooker, Seven Stories Press
Eliza Harris, Catapult
Anthony Zannino, MIT Press
Caroline McKusick, Stanford University Press
Alex Beaumont, Oxford University Press
Paula Dunne
Jaime Burns, Oxford University Press
Elaine Maisner, UNC Press
Teri Williams, Edinburgh University Press
Timothy Thomas, Oxford University Press
Heather Carr, The Friedrich Agency
Rachel Goodman
Alex Marchbank, Oxford University Press
Clayton Hayes, Wayne State University Library Publiishing
Tyler Simnick, Oxford University Press
Alexis Siemon, Cornell University Press
June Park, FSG
Whitney Rauenhorst, Princeton University Press
Rebecca Fowler
Megan Betts, Oxford University Press
Keith Sands, Cambridge University Press & Unite the Union
Liam Guyton, Cambridge University Press
Sara Yanny-Tillar, Cambridge University Press
Andrew Hsiao, Verso Books
Ben Sorensen
Casey LaVela, University of Wisconsin Press
June Park, FSG
Katharine Pratt, Oxford University Press
Rebecca Rozenberg, Johns Hopkins University Press
Christopher Dreyer
Stacey Lutkoski
Tanya Andrusieczko, Fernwood Publishing
Emeralde Jensen-Roberts, Harvard University Press
Julie Van Pelt, University of California Press
Melissa Gamble
Beth Fuget, University of Washington Press
Gianna Mosser