Public Employee Press

Queens Library to end custodial contracting

Queens Borough Public Library announced Oct. 23 that it will no longer use outside custodians — a victory for the union, which has long fought farming out work to private firms — and a possible sign of improving labor relations at the library.

QBPL said it will end its contract with the Busy Bee cleaning company in December, eliminate the remaining contracted custodians in June, and replace the contracted workers with union custodians.

The library has about 70 unionized custodians. It had many more before 2008, when it stopped hiring custodians and began shrinking the in-house staff through attrition. In 2013, QBPL decided to hire contract custodians rather than union custodians, even though its budget had stabilized.

The library will use $2.8 million in additional funding that the City Council restored earlier this year to hire 16 new full-time custodians and 19 clerical workers.

"We are glad our tax dollars will now be used for decent jobs and wages," said Queens Library Guild Local 1321 President John Hyslop. The local had criticized the library for adopting the corporate-like low-wage, anti-union policies that have been eroding the living standards of working families across the country.

The local's fight against contracting out — part of a wider campaign for improved staffing, services and funding — included demonstrations, agitating through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, on-line petitioning and outreach to politicians and media.

Hyslop called the hiring announcement a hopeful sign of a thaw in labor-management relations that deteriorated under President Thomas Galante, who faces city and federal corruption investigations and was suspended with pay in September. Politicians who pressed for Galante's ouster included City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, and Public Advocate Letitia James. Before the announcement, the library had brought on 19 new clerical workers.

Immediately after Galante's suspension, acting library head Bridget Quinn-Carey told Hyslop she hoped labor-management relations would improve, and in a good-faith gesture agreed to comply with the union's freedom-of-information request on QBPL's contracting, personnel practices and finances.

"This is a good start to improving our relationship. We look forward to working with the library to improve the staff's work life," Hyslop said.