September 21, 2009
The Toronto Public Library Workers Union, CUPE Local 4948, entered collective bargaining in April of 2009. On August 27, 2009, the Union applied to the Ministry of Labour to appoint a conciliation officer to help the parties reach a settlement. The Ministry of Labour has appointed Denise Small as the conciliation officer.
The issues:
The Toronto Public Library has been recognized as the best public library in the world. A trained, professional workforce, based upon good, full-time jobs and career opportunities, is key to providing world-class library services to the public.
“Rejuvenating” the Toronto Public Library
Our employer admits that the Toronto Public Library (TPL) needs “rejuvenation” and has made a series of short-sighted proposals that demonstrate a “band-aid” approach to problem-solving.
We believe that a vision for the future of TPL cannot be built on superficial solutions. The Union rejuvenation plan for TPL will necessitate a commitment to changing organizational attitudes and involving library workers in finding solutions.
Good jobs at TPL:
The lack of good jobs at TPL denies career opportunities to existing workers and makes it difficult to attract new graduates and experienced workers from outside the organization.
Approximately half the workforce at TPL is part-time. While some workers choose to work part-time, many have no other option. It takes on average five to six years for a part-time worker to get a full-time job at TPL. The TPL workforce is predominantly female. The Union is advocating for good, full-time, permanent jobs with decent pay, benefits and working conditions that allow us to retire on a decent pension and equality for part-time workers.
Management has proposed to hire external workers over new librarians who have completed university and library school while working as pages at TPL, essentially dismissing young workers who have pursued education while working at TPL. How can Management ever hope to “rejuvenate” TPL by dismissing this diverse group of experienced young workers who have lived and worked in our own communities?
Doing more with less:
The TPL wants to keep libraries open until midnight. The TPL slogan is “The best thing a library can be is open”.
Management’s plan to extend hours relies on self-service technology. The vision is a “study hall” model tied to few staff – with almost no professional librarians – 90% of which would be part-time workers. The “study hall” model is essentially a much down-graded service with computers and self-check out machines.
We believe that our communities deserve better.
What is important to note is that the TPL’s bare-bones proposal to staff the new open hours comes in the context of an understaffed service to begin with (there has been an over 20% reduction in library staff since the early 1990s) and a complete lack of real career opportunities for library workers who want to build their careers at TPL. The future of more part-time jobs and less real service is not one that we can get excited about.
The Union has proposed that any expansion in hours be accompanied by a commitment to staffing the library with good jobs and the full range of library services for the public. Libraries are not internet cafes! Libraries play a unique role in our communities and must continue to meet the educational, recreational and informational needs of our communities.
TPL looking to business-style made-in-the-US service models to do more with less:
TPL has been looking to business-style service models that have been made popular with libraries in the US that have been forced to provide library services on fewer resources as libraries suffer budget cutbacks. There are plenty of examples of libraries both in the US and in Canada that have suffered at the hands of such models, having seen the erosion of full-time jobs into part-time jobs, the de-skilling of the profession as the numbers of librarians are reduced and replaced with “generalist” positions and good library jobs replaced with technology. The plan to do more with less always comes at the expense of quality service and good jobs for our communities.
There is a long list of Employer proposals on the bargaining table that will only serve to mask the problems at TPL and erode public library service over the long-term:
- Restrictions on movement from one job to another, i.e. increasing stagnation.
- Promoting external workers ahead of current workers
- Restrictions to job posting opportunities
- Later hours with inferior service
- Increasing reliance on part-time workers
- More restrictions on flexible hours
- Focus on centralized services at the expense of the specific needs of local communities.
- Generalist jobs instead of professional specialized jobs to serve the communities better.
- Imported business-oriented solutions.
We want to bargain real solutions
The Union has made many proposals to provide TPL with long-term solutions:
- More good jobs = better service
- More full-time jobs = better service
- Equality for part-time workers
- Expanded hours with full quality service
- More career opportunities
- Hours of work scheduling responsive to increasing work/life balance
- Flexible scheduling and hours
- Focus on local services and job specialization
- Made-in-Toronto library solutions.
This round of bargaining is not about money – this round of bargaining calls upon the TPL to find the will to assume the leadership necessary to address real problems and to look for made-in Toronto public solutions befitting one of the finest public libraries in the world.
It is about hiring young workers and offering all TPL employees good jobs with opportunities for career advancement. It is about connecting us as library workers and the services we provide with our local communities.
We are at a crossroads. This round of bargaining will determine the direction of the Toronto Public Library for years to come.
This round of negotiations is about serving our communities better with good jobs.
