Library and union finding common ground
But some concerns with the shift to “community-led service model” remain
The Saskatoon Public Library and the union representing its employees appear to be finding some common ground after months of disagreement, distrust and protests triggered by a major restructuring program.
Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2669 still has concerns about the shift to a “community-led service model,” but internal documents obtained by the Saskatoon StarPhoenix show agreement on some key issues.
Chief among them is the question of probationary periods for the roughly 120 library employees who had to re-apply for positions under the new structure, which is set to come into force in mid-July.
After both sides failed to reach a deal on the issue last year, library management insisted they had to follow the collective agreement’s probation requirements — a position the union blasted as “draconian” and “unfair.”
Last month, however, both sides signed a memorandum of agreement waiving the requirement that employees, some of whom have decades of experience, spend months on probation after moving to a new position.
Both sides also signed a separate agreement reducing the qualifications needed for one new position, to allow current library employees without all of the requisite experience to “underfill” those jobs.
CUPE Local 2669 has previously raised concerns about employees taking pay cuts as a result of the restructuring.
The library announced this week that it will keep paying those workers their usual wages until July 2021.
“I think we’ve been doing a lot of relationship-building over the past several months,” said Beth Cote, the library ’s director of public services. “We’re in the room together, either bargaining or working in negotiations for other items, and I think … both parties are starting to understand what the other party’s interests are.”
CUPE Local 2669 president Pamela Ryder said while union members weren’t aware of the wage protection until the library announced it publicly, she is “cautiously optimistic” about the new agreements.
At the same time, the union is worried about six employees who, as a result of the restructuring, are expected to take “large” pay cuts as they move to part-time positions from full-time jobs, she said.
“We’ve been trying to work with (management) to alleviate that. In some ways, their announcement of the wage top-up starts to do that, but we’re still working out ways to help those six people.”
Cote noted the library’s initial offer regarding how the restructuring would be carried out — which the union rejected late last year — guaranteed that transitioning employees would keep their hours regardless of seniority.
Without a separate deal, Cote said, “we’re governed by our collective agreement, and the collective agreement says that the deciding factor for any job offers will be seniority.”
The union said at the time that it couldn’t vote for the deal because it outlined different processes for different employees.
“I would like to remain cautiously optimistic,” Ryder said this week.
The library unveiled plans to move to a new organization structure, which its board chair subsequently said was necessary to keep pace with the times and better serve the community, in late 2016.
CUPE Local 2669 began to ring alarm bells late last year, as changes were rolled out. The conflict appeared to peak in April, when dozens of workers and their supporters gathered at city hall to protest “top-down toxicity.”