SOUTH HADLEY Librarians join Council 93 of AFSCME

SOUTH HADLEY - Nonunionized town employees have voted overwhelmingly 26 to 9 to join Council 93 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, according to the Division of Labor Relations employee who counted the ballots.

Youth Services Librarian Marguerite A. Clancy, one of the workers who helped the organizing effort, said the vote sends "a very clear message" to the town that the workers want a union. The election capped 2½ years of effort by organizers to form a union.

"We are fed up with how we have been treated," Clancy said, citing as an example the fact that nonunionized employees do not get cost of living raises, while town employees in collective bargaining units do.