The Amazonian Supermarket Elephant In The Room...

A petition signed by more than 1,500 people so far, including more than 100 Waterstones workers and backed by names including author Philip Pullman, has been published on Organise.

Addressed to Waterstones managing director James Daunt and chief operating officer Kate Skipper, it says that the majority of Waterstones staff are employed either on or very close to the minimum wage, and that upon being furloughed, they find themselves “plunged beneath this line and into financial uncertainty”.

Like so many in this pointlessly destructive lockdown. What are their demands? 

“We understand the impact that Covid has had on the business and that the high street is in a precarious position. We are not asking for a full top-up, not that we are paid a great deal above minimum wage – simply that incomes are made back up to this safety line,” the bookseller who organised the petition, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Guardian.

More money. From a business that's not making any. Well, that's sensible...not! 

Skipper told the Guardian that “we have great sympathy” with the petition. “Only the extreme circumstances of prolonged, enforced closure of our shops, with no certainty of the timing of their reopening, has caused the furlough of our booksellers in this manner,” she said.

“It would be much better if we were in a position to pay our booksellers their full salaries, even as we keep our shops closed. With no clarity for how long this crisis will last, this would not be prudent. We look forward to reopening and bringing our booksellers back to work. Then we will have certainty and are pleased that we will be able to give well deserved pay rises.”

Couldn't be clearer. After all, lockdown isn't the entire cause of Waterstone's issues. We're still buying books. Indeed, more than ever before. 

Just not from them:

Book sales figures, which include online as well as high-street trade, have remained robust in the face of the pandemic.

Last month, market monitor Nielsen BookScan reported that, despite the series of lockdowns around the UK, the volume of print books sold grew by 5.2% to 202m in 2020.

Demanding more money from a business that's fighting for its own life is the height of folly. You'd think someone at the 'Guardian' would figure that out, even if the staff can't.