Library talks on borrowed time
As strike looms for Toronto’s 100 branches, union says the city needs to get serious
More than 2,000 library workers will strike Monday, shutting Toronto’s 100 branches, unless the city gets serious about negotiating a new contract, their union says.
With a strike or lockout possible starting midnight Sunday, Maureen O’Reilly, president of CUPE Local 4948, told reporters Wednesday she is “extremely concerned about the state of negotiations.”
The union has yet to hear the library board’s response to a union proposal tabled Tuesday that “pared down” demands, she said, but would still boost the number of full-time library jobs and reduce the “precarious” part-time work of half her membership.
O’Reilly said five days is lots of time to settle a new contract, but the city’s negotiators have shown no willingness to address the “crisis” of precarious work.
“A strike deadline is very meaningful,” she said. “Unless real progress is being made at the time, we will exercise our right to do that . . . we will unfortunately be withdrawing our services as of Sunday.”
In advertisements and at a rally Saturday in front of city hall, the union will urge Torontonians to demand Mayor John Tory and the library board push for a fair deal.
The library workers’ contract expired Dec. 31. Talks for a new deal began in early February.
On Wednesday, Tory praised Toronto’s library system, saying its value is due in part to the people who work there.
“I want those people to be respected. I want them to have employment that is good in terms of the conditions of employment and the nature of their jobs. I believe that before and after these negotiations the library workers will have good jobs.”
He said he’s optimistic a “fair contract” will be reached. A spokeswoman for Vickery Bowles, Toronto’s chief librarian, said in an email Wednesday “we continue to bargain and are committed to reaching a negotiated settlement.
“We’re working to reach a deal that is fair to both parties and Toronto residents, and will work to the strike deadline and beyond if necessary to reach an agreement.”
In 2012, after negotiations broke down with the Rob Ford administration, library workers went on strike for 11 days, shutting branches across the city.
“We are in the exact same place as we were in 2012,” O’Reilly said.
Toronto has the world’s busiest urban library system, the city says, with more than 18.5 million visitors every year, borrowing more than 32 million items.