> >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- >----- Forwarded message follows ----- > >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. > >Note to Borders Executives: If, after this column is published, you >retaliate by removing my book from your shelves, or hiding it in the "humor" >section or underreporting its sales to the New York Times list, I will come >at you with everything I've got. You sandbagged me in Philly, and the only >decent way for you to resolve this is to give Miriam Fried her job back and >let the workers form their union without intimidation or harassment. > >Copyright (c) 1996, The Nation Company, L.P. All rights reserved. >Electronic redistribution for nonprofit purposes is permitted, provided this >notice is attached in its entirety. Unauthorized, for-profit redistribution >is prohibited. For further information regarding reprinting and syndication, >please call The Nation at (212) 242-8400, ext. 226 or send e-mail to Max >Block. > Blair Sandler [EMAIL PROTECTED]
