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.

Mediation pursued in NCCC labor feud

Working without a labor contract for almost three years will go a long way to strain a relationship....

Over the last six weeks, the union has taken a vote of no confidence against college President James P. Klyczek and has accused him of violating state law in a dispute over health insurance coverage.

Both sides started meeting with a mediator about a new contract at the end of last month, and another formal hearing may occur as early as August on the health insurance issue....The Faculty Association, which consists of teaching faculty, counselors, librarians, technical assistants and non-ranking professionals, will have 164 members at the start of the fall semester, according to the organization.

Some of the issues on the table since negotiations for a new contract began in March 2005 include class sizes, health insurance and control over potential staff cuts that are caused by financial distress at the college.

Community of Industrial Relations Librarians-63rd Annual Meeting

Community of Industrial Relations Librarians
63rd Annual Meeting

Saturday, June 13th, 2009, 1-5pm
Location: Communication Workers of America Headquarters,
501 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC

Agenda

Community of Industrial Relations Librarians

Washington-Centerville [OH] Public Library Library Board Appeals Library Workers' Right to Form Union

“In the election, 62 percent of the eligible employees voted to be represented by the local staff association. The library board challenged the results of that election and they lost that challenge. They are now appealing that decision. We feel that their appeal is a stalling tactic and a poor use of time and money.”

Washington-Centerville Public Library officials have announced that the Library Board of Trustees will file an appeal of the March 4th union election with the Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

The appeal states the Ohio State Employee Relations Board (SERB) proceeded with a union election even though library employees had not yet formed a staff association on which to vote.

“SERB should not have proceeded with the election. You cannot ask people to vote for, or against, something that does not yet exist,” said Fred Ungerman, legal counsel for the Library.

SERB recently overruled the Library Board of Trustees’ objection to the election, and subsequently certified the vote to form a library staff association.

“The Board of Trustees carefully deliberated this decision and feel they will get a more unbiased hearing of the objection to the union vote in the court system,” continued Ungerman.

If the Franklin County Common Pleas Court upholds SERB’s decision, a collective bargaining unit will represent 57 of the 150 employees working at the library, including reference librarians, children’s librarians, customer service representatives, technicians, and some administrative staff. In March, library staff voted 33 to 20 in favor of unionization.

“The Library is committed to respecting the rights of employees and we feel an appeal is part of that process. It’s our opinion that the staff deserved more information about the union’s structure and leadership before they voted on unionization,” stated Richard Carr, Library Board of Trustees President.

Cathy Simonson is acting president of the staff association. She said they are moving forward with electing permanent officers and voting on the approval of the constitution and the by-laws.

She said the union is very disappointed with the board’s actions.

“We are very disappointed. Mr. Carr stated that “the library is committed to respecting the rights of the employees” and that is clearly not the case,” Simonson stated. “In the election, 62 percent of the eligible employees voted to be represented by the local staff association. The library board challenged the results of that election and they lost that challenge. They are now appealing that decision. We feel that their appeal is a stalling tactic and a poor use of time and money.”

Jack Henning Dies.

Jack Henning, a spellbinding orator and forceful presence who was an icon of organized labor in California and beyond, died Thursday at his home in San Francisco after a long illness. He was 93.