Guitar Center: Prices So Low, Employees Can't Survive on Wages

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At the end of May, employees at Guitar Center's flagship store in Manhattan overwhelmingly voted to form a union of its 57 retail workers. The national Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) organized the win, marking what the union hoped would be the first of many such votes around New York City and the rest of the country.

Brendon Clark, 28, was one of the workers who voted to unionize. Clark has been working at Guitar Center for four years.

"It's been a long time coming," said Clark. "Our grievances have been at play for at least six or seven years, the main thing being how we're paid and our compensation. No one ever considered a union, and a lot of that is because of how the company has not necessarily blocked unions, but just kind of blocked any way for employees to maybe press on the issue."

Clark was hired about a year after Bain Capital bought Guitar Center in 2007, and he says a regular sales person at the store used to have a lot of autonomy, but things started to go awry when internet sales for guitars and other equipment boosted and workers suddenly had to compete with giant online retailers like Amazon.com. Guitar Center tailored their marketing and discounting to represent the way the market was turning, and workers like Clark says their hourly wage and commission structure have been been slashed since the investment film took over.

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