The past few years have brought comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly a string of accolades and a new children's bookstore. Now, the Mile End icon is in the news again – this time for a brand-new union.

Booksellers and publishing staff announced last week that they've unionized with the Fédération du commerce of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (FC-CSN). The union has just been certified by the Administrative Labor Tribunal of Quebec.

Bookseller Bridget Mountford says that unionization happened "organic[ally]," not in response to any one issue, but a more general desire for "a seat at the table" on issues like advancement and compensation.

"It was something that we'd talk about in passing... We felt like, if we all want this, there doesn't need to be an inciting incident."

So far, Mountford says management has been "engaging in good faith." She's hopeful about what a union can add to a job she loves.

"A good company culture seems just as likely to produce a union as a bad company culture, because it allows for [staff] to have conversations about what their long-term commitment is to one another, and to the work they do."

Drawn & Quarterly did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Listen to the full interview below: