Small Press Distribution Group 2

Shown above is an image of the front of the SPD building, where countless workers were mistreated and harassed. The company eventually shut down as a result of the financial and workplace problems.

The Small Press Distribution faced many problems with their staff, misconduct at work, and finances, eventually causing them to close suddenly on March 28, 2024. The problems were brought to light by an anonymous former worker under the alias of Damaged Book Worker, underlining all the issues they faced while they were an employee at SPD.

History

The Small Press Distribution was founded in 1969 by Peter Howard and Jack Shoemaker to represent the underrepresented in literature. They wanted to promote diversity and inclusion by bringing independently published literature to readers as well as emphasize the importance of small presses. They began by representing only a handful of small presses, between 5 and 8 depending on the source you look at, and were representing about 572 small presses by 1999 when their company turned 30. The SPD is a nonprofit book distributor.

The Problem

As the company grew, problems arose. A former employee anonymously released an article revealing the problems with leadership, wage theft and abuse, and misconduct at work. They discussed receiving discrimination due to their disability and being underpaid by several thousand dollars without receiving any pay stubs. Their article caused uproar in the community and sparked other employees to speak out, eventually leading to a public letter which launched an investigation by the board of directors into the current executive director, Brent Cunningham.

Brent was forced to step down from his role, taking on a temporary role in the company until his replacement was appointed. During his last moments at the company, he was in a position that did not allow him to interact directly with other staff. Kent Watson was appointed as Cunningham’s replacement, in hopes that he would be able to help the company heal. SPD closed down out of the blue, forcing many small presses to close down and struggle financially when they were told they needed to pay to retrieve their books from the warehouses.

The problem is still ongoing today and small presses are still trying to work through the problem of distributing their books.

Positions of the Problem

SPD executives: They were the cause behind the poor treatment of employees.

• The executives who were in charge at SPD were involved in the unfair and toxic treatment of their employees. The executive director, Brent Cunningham, particularly stood out in this issue because many articles released by current employees gave Cunningham a lot of backlash.
• This treatment of the SPD employees by the executives included: sexual harassment, racism, sexism, and misgendering toward different employees. Along with the inappropriate treatment in the workplace, the SPD executives also underpaid their employees and gave them long work hours.

SPD employees: The employees at SPD were on the receiving end of the executive’s treatment.

• Some of the employees anonymously published social media posts and articles on the toxic and unfair work environment and treatment of employees at SPD.
• Damaged Book Worker, an anonymous former employee at SPD, was the first person to bring the SPD problems to light through their social media posts and articles. They started a chain of other SPD employees coming out to share their experiences working there. These publications caused uproars in the community and encouraged investigations into the problem.
• Many of the employees who worked at SPD during this time were reported to have left the company.

Shown is an image of an SPD warehouse, which houses thousands of books to be sent out and distributed to libraries, bookstores, etc. Now that SPD has shut down, many of these small press books will not get distributed.

Possible Solutions

Come up with better ways to treat employees:

• Fire inappropriate executives and bring in ones who will not mistreat employees.
• Let the employees speak to the board about the problems they faced, and they should be allowed to do this without putting their job in jeopardy.
• Speaking out about the problem will allow the executives to (hopefully) rectify their mistakes and give fair, professional treatment to their employees.

Fair wages:

• Employees should be paid appropriately for their work hours.
• If the SPD cannot afford to pay the right amount for their employees' hours, then employees should not be forced to work for long, grueling hours, and should be reimbursed for their past hours that the SPD failed to pay them for.