19. Most of the Strand’s staff is unionized with United Auto Workers

Taking away from the mystique and legendary nature of Strand employees, you might be surprised to know that since the 1970s, they’ve been unionized with United Auto Workers. This has led to management conflict throughout the years, especially when a Strand employee, Greg Farrell, accused Fred and Nancy Bass of proposing “long-term disadvantages to the workers” during 2012 contract negotiations, such as less benefits and personal days and an employee system that they felt would make the union vulnerable.

Angry employees threatened to strike, with both groups eventually reaching an agreement on a contract. However, Farrell continued to contest that the Strand had replaced older, more unionized workers with younger, cheaper ones. He even wrote a graphic novel about the conflict, called On the Books.