HADLEY — Employees at the Barnes & Noble store at the Mountain Farms Mall in Hadley voted unanimously Thursday to form a union, affiliating with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459.

The vote by the 18 booksellers and baristas at the store came following more than a month of employee-led pubic organizing activities, including a public reading of the employees' letter to the company on April 17 and a recent rally involving others in the labor movement. The store is the second in the 785-store chain to vote to unionize.

A decision to pursue unionization came after the successful efforts by Trader Joe's United at that store at Hampshire Mall, and the employees of the Rutgers University Barnes & Noble Education store.

The new union will negotiate a contract that aims to deal with issues related to pay and work schedules.

— SCOTT MERZBACH

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