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Toronto Public Library Workers Campaign
Protects the Library Service but Jobs are Lost that
City Librarian Offered Up as “Efficiencies”
In a meeting of the Toronto Public Library Board which went late into the night on Monday December 12th, the TPLB voted for a limited number of additional cuts to the budget resisting a move by Board Chair Councillor Paul Ainslie to cut Monday to Saturday open hours by 18,408 hours , affecting 56 branches.
In a surprise move Councillor Jaye Robinson and Councillor Caesar Palacio both voted not to support the chair of the library board. This indicates a clear break in the Mayor’s support as both Robinson and Palacio sit on the Mayor’s Executive Committee. Councillor Palacio made an impassioned speech that library hours were not a political issue but one that he had to follow his heart and the wishes of his constituents on this matter.
Moreover, Chair Ainslie and Vice Chair Foderick clearly lost control of the meeting when their attempts to re-open the proposed reduction of hours was soundly defeated. The Board Chair and Vice Chair were also quite disingenuous in their own intent as they had voted against the hour closures at the Budget Committee meeting of the board earlier in November.
In an unguarded moment when the Library Board Chair was challenged by Councillor Janet Davis that his proposed hour cuts would put Toronto below the Ontario benchmarking average, Councillor Ainslie replied that perhaps all libraries across the province were open too much.
In October the TPLB approved budget reductions based on efficiencies and additional revenue generation which included a cut of 100 full time equivalencies. On Monday, the board approved the elimination of an additional 7 FTEs.
The library has not provided a breakdown on the elimination of the full-time equivalencies. (A full-time equivalency is equal to a full-time position consisting of 1820 hours, or, parts thereof).
The City Librarian has stated that she hopes the staff cuts will be achieved by attrition, and not by layoff, but has not been able to provide any guarantee on this.
The 5.9% reduction from this year’s budget could have been far more catastrophic if the Mayor had succeeded in getting the 10% reduction he was demanding. We still have to get the budget through City council in January and we are working to ensure this happens.
There can be no doubt that our union’s campaign to save the library was the major reason for this victory. As a result of our efforts, there will be no branch closures and no loss of open hours. An attempt to cut more services like the adult and children’s literacy programs was staved off.
It is not a complete victory, however, because there will still be a loss of 107 full time equivalent staff.
One of the most important outcomes of this process has been the dialogue that we have been able to engage in with Torontonians about the library service. When the local was asked when we embarked upon this campaign if we had any organized supporter groups, we said no. Today, we now have a list of over 50,000 Torontonians who have signed our petition and joined our campaign.
This is what one of our supporters sent to the Toronto Star last week:
To the Editor:
It is gratifying that, at their December 12 meeting, the Toronto Public Library Board did not go further in cutting the library’s budget. Faced with massive public support for library services, and acknowledging the human costs of further cuts, the Board, a majority of whom are Ford appointees, drew the line at 5.9%. I salute them for listening through the political rhetoric to the voices of the people of Toronto and voting to preserve crucial services.
My greater thanks goes to our librarians, who, through their union, waged an impressive public information campaign. Ironically, as was evident at the December 12 meeting, it is the librarians who will be most affected by the remaining 5.9% in proposed cuts, “efficiencies” that will result in reduced staffing. At the meeting, we heard how reductions in a staff already greatly reduced since amalgamation create stressful working conditions for librarians, reduced service to library patrons, and in some cases, put public safety at risk.
The librarians played a crucial role in the fight against library cuts that should never have been on the table in the first place. The people of Toronto owe them all measure of support as they carry on their fight for the levels of staffing and quality of service by staff.
Torontonians have shown their love for the Toronto Public Library. We must continue to show our love by supporting our librarians, the people who make our incredible library work for us. Librarians, we are listening. Tell us how we can support you to keep our libraries responsive, healthy and safe.
107 Full-time Equivalencies Gone:
17% Staff Cut Since 1998 As Library Experiences Record Use
The Library has not provided any details as to where the elimination of the 107 positions will be save and except what was presented in the October 17th report to the board. That information is as follows:
Detailed budget review and other reductions ($0.820 million including 2.0 FTEs)
FTE Reduction | Service |
2.0 | Brentwood Resulting from a revised scheduled and staff reduction |
Service consolidations ($1.705 including 17.5 FTEs)
FTE Reduction | Service |
2.5 | Consolidate Urban Affairs at TRL (Year 2) |
4.0 | Integrate periodicals at TRL (Year 2) |
2.0 | Merge separate business desks at TRL |
3.7 | Material delivery services consolidation |
4.0 | Mobile Library Services – consolidation at NYCL |
1.0 | Landscaping/snow clearing |
Technology Driven Efficiencies ($1.925 million, including 26.8 FTEs)
FTE Reduction | Service |
1.0 | Maintenance contracts and licenses |
9.3 | Self-service circulation RFID project |
11.5 | Library material sorters – 5 branches |
5.0 | RFID Self Checkout – 10 additional branches |
Business Process Re-engineering ($3.148 million, including 45 FTEs)
FTE Reduction | Service |
31.0 | Procurement and Inventory Management |
12.0 | Holds Efficiency Project |
2.0 | Timekeeping and Payroll Efficiencies |
Management and Support Reductions (O.764 million, including 9 FTEs)
FTE Reduction | |
9.0 | Including 6 management/exempt positions |
At the December 12th board meeting, the following cuts were approved to the budget:
Efficiencies ($2.69 million increase to the capital budget)
FTE Reduction | Service |
7.0 | Automated sorter for the Ellesmere hub and Don Mills, Malvern and Woodside Square to be installed |
Stay engaged. Follow the union on Facebook and Twitter – “like us”, retweet and share posts, share the petition. ourpubiclibrary.to Facebook: www.facebook.com/TPLWULocal4948 Twitter@local4948 and @4948President. Visit us on the web at www.local4948.org and watch for the launch of the new member login in early January.
