Public Employee Press

Library local wins back tuition benefit

Following a fight-back by Local 1930, the New York Public Library restored cuts in its tuition assistance benefit.

The restoration also came after the City Council allocated the library system an extra $20 million (out of the $40 million total for the city’s three library systems in this year’s $59 billion budget) to provide six-day service for the first time in six years.

“We’re happy that management came to their senses,” said Carol Thomas, president of New York Public Library Guild Local 1930. “Frankly, we were dumbfounded by the cuts in the first place. Studies show that the dedication and loyalty of employees grows when employers help them pay for their studies.”

The lead grievant in the fight against the cuts was Laura Bishop, a former Librarian Trainee, who has to be a little philosophical about the victory: The restoration took ­effect July 7, but she graduated from library school in May.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t reap the benefits,” said Bishop, now a Children’s Librarian at Manhattan’s Hamilton Fish Park Branch. “But it was important to fight for this benefit because it affects the professionalism of the institution.”

At a hearing in May, Bishop spoke for the 36 members who signed the grievance. The popular 50-year-old tuition assistance program is open to members pursuing non-degree coursework, undergraduate degrees, or master’s degrees in library science or other subjects. Currently, more than 40 Librarian Trainees are using the benefit.

Members were outraged last year when they learned that management was cutting their tuition aid by nearly half without even consulting with the union. Assistance for a master’s degree was reduced from $6,000 to $3,300 a year, reimbursement for undergraduate degree studies was cut from $3,000 to $1,650 a year, and support for non-degree studies was slashed from $2,250 to $1,200 a year.

Former Local 1930 President Lynn Taylor, DC 37 Rep Lisa Riccio and Assistant General Counsel Kim Hsueh worked on the grievance, which charged the library with violating past practice.

Restoring the cuts is “a nice turn of events,” said Librarian Trainee William Hall, who lost about $1,200 because of the library’s misguided stinginess, but will get the assistance as he studies for about another year at the Queens College Graduate School of Library Science.

“There is still sort of a bad taste in my mouth,” said Hall. “But I think enough people in the administration understood the importance of the program and were in favor of restoring the benefit.”