M.J. Jenkins, a bookseller at Bookshop Santa Cruz, didn’t take the decision to start organizing a union lightly.

“I was nervous, because unionizing can be seen as just a bunch of agitators. But that’s not what we’re going for at all,” says Jenkins, who’s worked at the bookstore for a little more than a year and makes $15.75 an hour.

Jenkins and some of her colleagues have submitted a mission statement about their intent to unionize to Bookshop owner Casey Coonerty Protti. According to a post on IndyBay.org, there will be a protest outside Bookshop on Pacific Avenue Friday, Dec. 11, at 5pm. Jenkins says she and her fellow organizers are focused on advocating for themselves in hopes of getting health care and a securing a livable wage—which, for Santa Cruz, they calculated to be $17.90.

Entry-level Bookshop employees currently start at a $15.50 hourly wage. For the first time, the store also has temporary workers, who are making $14 an hour for the holiday season, but they are not fully trained booksellers, Protti says. She adds that the majority of workers make more than $17.75 an hour.