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Victoria Library Strike Escalates

Pay equity at centre of four-month dispute.

Tom Sandborn 19 Jan 2008TheTyee.ca

Tom Sandborn is a contributing editor to The Tyee.

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CUPE 410 pickets

A long-simmering labour dispute escalated this week, shutting down all branches of the Greater Victoria Library system yesterday for the second time in three days.

On Wednesday and again Friday, unionized library workers walked out, closing every library in the region.

Previously, in carrying on a strike that began in September, CUPE 410 members had been conducting "work to rule" tactics, including regular noon-hour closures of library branches and shut downs of patron Internet access through branch computer stations.

The walk-outs this week were responses to management suspending a union worker on two occasions for carrying on a "food for fines" campaign. The campaign, initiated by the union but endorsed by library management last year, allows patrons to make a donation to the local food bank instead of paying fines on overdue books.

A CUPE 410 press release yesterday said three other workers who have received verbal warnings for waiving fines for food are also expected to face suspensions.

'Legitimate strike action': union

There is some dispute about the status of the food for fines program, with a notice on the GVPL's website indicating it was a management initiative that has now been cancelled, while a union representative says it is an ongoing strike activity legitimately pursued by union members.

"Food for fines is a legitimate strike action," said CUPE 410 president Ed Seedhouse. "Disciplining our members for such activity violates the collective agreement between the parties and the Labour Relations Code. By walking out today, we are simply doing what is necessary to protect our members."

In a letter to GVPL chief executive Barry Holmes, the union asked the body to stop disciplining members of CUPE 410 for participating in food for fines. The union cites a recent arbitrator's decision in a case involving Farwest Handydart Services that ruled a similar action -- drivers refusing to collect fares for rides -- was lawful strike activity.

$600,000 loss risked: management

Holmes told The Tyee that library management had its own, separate food for fines program that only allowed management personnel to handle the process. He said the union initiative, which has continued and escalated since the GVPL cancelled its own fine forgiveness program on Dec. 31, was illegal.

"They don't have the right to take fines off the books," he said. "That is a management prerogative. We have a legal opinion that disagrees with their argument about the Handydart arbitration. If this program were to continue all year, the library could face losses of up to $600,000."

In an interesting twist, the GVPL's website on Jan. 16 announced the day-long closure of its nine branches, and advised patrons that no late fees would be charged for books not returned that day.

Central branch circulation supervisor Helen Hughes is suspended for today and Monday, with the employer escalating disciplinary measures against CUPE 410 members.

Pay equity fight

The central issue prolonging the labour dispute, CUPE 410 president Ed Seedhouse told The Tyee, is a long overdue promise by the library to address pay equity issues for library workers.

"We've had an agreement on pay equity since 1992, but we still don't have what was promised us. Our jobs were supposed to be compared to jobs at Victoria City Hall and this was done, in theory, in a comparability study in 2000. But the wage differences remain."

Offering an example, Seedhouse explained: "At the end of December 2006, the last day our old collective agreement was in force, a page at the library made $9.87 an hour, while at city hall similar work earned $19.44 an hour. The library paid a circulation clerk $17.58 an hour, while similar work at city hall paid $21.47.

"What is at stake here," Seedhouse added, "is basic respect for librarians. The employer has refused to negotiate. We need some action on pay equity and on the library's excessive use of poorly paid auxiliary workers."

The Greater Victoria Public Library had 83 full-time staff and 248 part-time staff, including auxiliaries in 2006. In contrast, the Vancouver Public Library has 404 full-time and 404 part-time staff.

Negotiations stalled

GVPL CEO Holmes declined to answer any questions about union claims that there had been no substantial negotiations since the beginning of the strike in September, referring these queries to Ron Brunsdon of the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association.

Several calls from The Tyee to the GVLRA offices requesting comment on this story from Mr. Brunsdon were not returned.

Seedhouse said the failure to negotiate was due, at least in part, to the "hall of mirrors" structure that governs library service in the Greater Victoria region.

"The library board has no real power," he told The Tyee. "They get money from 10 municipalities to operate the library system, but they don't negotiate with us. That's supposed to be done by the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association."

Among the signs carried by picketers Wednesday were some calling on the library board to "grow a heart."

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