Baldwin Public Library Contract at an Impasse

Contract negotiations between the Baldwin Public Library Board of Trustees and the library's staff continue to stall after union employees said that the board has yet to float an acceptable offer in what has become a two-year dispute over salaries.
Employees have been working without a contract since 2004, and members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) said that they earn 20 percent below the Nassau County average. In a sign of protest last year, workers began wearing black, and this past April workers held a demonstration outside the library demanding a "fair" raise....

The Nassau County Library Association conducted an annual voluntary survey of the county's libraries not long ago. The survey found that for the 2004-05 fiscal year, the average salary for an experienced librarian was more than $58,000, whereas in Baldwin, the same experienced librarians earned an average of $46,350.

--By Anthony Rifilato July 06, 2006