Our Long and Proud History Representing Library Workers
In 1998, Toronto public library workers voluntarily joined the newly created Toronto Civic Employees Union (TCEU) Local 416. We all worked hard to realize a large composite local consisting of all municipal workers but unfortunately we fell short of our full goal when the inside workers voted to remain in Local 79.
Prior to amalgamation six (6) separate library locals existed. (The library workers in the former City of Etobicoke and York were not unionized).
Library locals have a long and rich history going back to the formation of Local 771 in 1959 when the clerical staff at North York Public Library organized under NUPE, the predecessor to CUPE.
Since amalgamation your Library Division Executive, consisting of elected representatives from our workplaces, have negotiated three collective agreements in 2000, 2003, 2005 and are about to embark on the latest. We have completed wage harmonization and pay equity in the library. Along the way we have dealt with a myriad of issues on your behalf including the processing of hundreds of grievances. Although we can always do better, we stand behind the solid accomplishments we have achieved on your behalf the past ten years.
The Day After the Vote
An obvious question that many of you have is: would the library workers be able to form a viable union on their own? The answer is resoundingly yes!
A concern raised by library workers over the years was that the municipal union was a more distant entity than what they were used to before and that library workers had no contact with many of the union representatives outside of the Library Division Executive. The inability for the local to communicate more with its 10,000 members scattered across the new city in over 1,000 work locations was often cited as a concern.
A new library local here in Toronto would make us the largest public library workers union in Canada yet more responsive to the needs of our 2,300 members.
The Library Division Executive would serve as a transition team for 2009. They would create a new organizational structure for the local and draft by-laws which would eventually be confirmed by the library membership. Elections for the new library union would go ahead after collective bargaining is done and the new by-laws are confirmed.
Making Your Money Work for You
Library workers contribute approximately $1.3 million every year to Local 416 through your union dues. In turn, more than 40% of all members’ dues money is sent to CUPE to support union endeavours as per the National Constitution. By far, the remainder of the money went to support the grievance and arbitration process on behalf of all 416 members.
Though our commitments to CUPE would remain the same, in a new library local our dues money would be redirected to us and we would have complete control over the expenditure of our money. This means that more money would be expended to support issues that are most important to library workers.
Your Library Division Executive will be asking Local 416 for a percentage share of the assets, like the union office building, which we contributed to over the years.
The Realization of Collective Strength Across the City of Toronto
The realization of collective strength across the city was one of the major benefits of 416.
However because we have a separate employer from the city workers, we always had the ability to determine our own right to strike. When City of Toronto Outside workers went out on strike in 2002 library workers did not follow automatically. Future coordination would exist on this issue as it does with Local 79.
In a new library local, a strike would close the largest public library in Canada. Our success in being the busiest public library in North America, based on the hard work that we all do each and every day, would create an impact that was not possible prior to amalgamation. After all as the Toronto Star has cited many times, the Toronto Public Library is the only success story of amalgamation.
We Need Your Support
The Library Division Executive is unanimous in their support for the library workers to determine their own fate on this matter. We are dependent on CUPE for arranging the vote. Unfortunately Local 416 has not been cooperative up to this point in meeting their obligations to discuss the transition from the local. We want to put this matter behind us now and focus on the issues that concern all of us the most.
And yes, the issue materialized very suddenly and escalated even faster. Unfortunately, we cannot always completely control the events in our lives. This issue goes beyond one or two people and the false perpetuation of conspiracy theories. Opportunities are sometimes presented to us when we are not looking for them and when we least expect them.
We are the group that will give you voice, best represent your concerns, bring our experience and knowledge of your workplaces forward and do it all in the most fiscally responsive manner in an environment that we can all respect.
As leaders, we believe we have a responsibility to recommend to you a course of action that will be in your best interests for today and tomorrow. We have benefitted greatly from our association with Local 416 over the past decade and we are the stronger for it. We have a new challenge now. It is time for library workers to come together collectively and forge a new future for us as leaders in the library world.
Maureen O’Reilly on Behalf of the Library Division Executive Committee:
Rob Rolfe, Brendan Haley, Beatriz Hausner, Viveca Gretton, Nahid Rahnavard, Karen Smith, Samee Lee Grossman, Carmela DeGiorgio and Steven Burdick.
For more information you can call the library division union office at 393-7656 or email the Library Division Executive at torontopubliclibraryworkers@yahoo.ca or read our blog at libraryworkersunion.blogspot.com
Produced by Volunteer Union Labour
