Public Employee Press

Union wins pay battle in city libraries and cultural institutions

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 members at the city’s three public libraries and those who work at two museums and four botanical gardens will soon receive the two 4 percent increases due under the current contract.

Funding for the raises was freed up after the City Council voted April 22 to approve a budget modification for the current fiscal year.

The libraries, museums and botanical gardens had balked at implementing the raises because the city hadn’t forwarded the funds, prompting locals representing the 6,000 affected workers to mobilize with DC 37 to urge the City Council to pass the budget modification as soon as possible.

“Our members are very relieved that this issue was finally addressed,” said Eileen Muller, president of Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482.

“It didn’t seem fair that other workers in the city had received their second increase when we hadn’t even gotten our first one.”

As PEP went to press, the union was pressing the libraries, museums and botanical gardens to implement the raises as soon as possible.

Earlier this year, city agencies and the Health and Hospitals Corp. had moved ahead with the raises in the contract. But the Brooklyn, Queens and New York (which includes Bronx and Staten Island libraries) library systems apparently decided to hold off until they had the money in hand — a break with their usual practice. The Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of the City of New York and four botanical gardens also held up the pay increase.

The funding for the raises was in the city’s budgeted labor reserve, but the City Council needed to pass the budget modification for the money to be dispersed.

Lobbying City Council

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, Political Action and Legislation Director Wanda Williams and local leaders brought up the problem about raises at the union’s annual City Council Breakfast in February. In early March, union leaders and activists participated in a phone bank campaign to urge the Council to move the delayed budget modification.

In early April, Queens Library Guild Local 1321 launched a letter-writing campaign, asking members to urge their City Council representatives to pass the budget modification.

Local 1482 distributed the letter at its April 7 membership meeting and urged participants to spread the word to their co-workers. New York Public Library Guild Local 1930 also encouraged members to lobby their Council members.

In April, Muller, Local 1321 President Margalit Susser and Local 1930 President Carol Thomas joined Susan Chin of the DC 37 Political Action Dept. on the steps of City Hall, where they buttonholed City Council members as they arrived for work.

“The union did everything it could,” said Museum of the City of New York Local 1665 President Marvin Williams. “After our push, it was up to the mayor to send the budget modification to the City Council.”

Economic squeeze

Melvin Bentley, president of Brooklyn Museum Local 1502, said the delay put the economic squeeze on workers. “Members were very disappointed about the holdup.” The pay battle compounded the anxiety hanging over workers because of looming budget cuts, said Cuthbert Dickenson, president of Local 374, which represents botanical garden workers and blue-collar employees at the New York Public Library.

DC 37 library activists joined the New York Library Association in Albany March 10 to press legislators to reject Gov. David Paterson’s proposed $18 million cut in library funds, but the lawmakers put back only $13.6 million.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s preliminary budget plan calls for slashing 17 percent of the city’s funding for libraries, threatening almost 800 jobs through layoffs and attrition at the three library systems.

On April 27, City Council member Vincent J. Gentile, who chairs the Council’s Library Subcommittee, sponsored a rally at City Hall Park with DC 37 and the three library systems to call for additional funding.

Muller spoke on behalf of the three library locals and DC 37.

Meanwhile, as the budget debate heats up, the Brooklyn library is encouraging employees to participate in its “Support the Shelves” campaign by soliciting funds from patrons and even digging into their own pockets.

“There’s resentment about this,” said Sr. Librarian Robert Renwick. Management has told Librarians to make donation envelopes available at reference desks, and Clerks are supposed to slip the envelopes into books as they are checked out. “The morale has gotten very low,” said Renwick, commenting on the impact of the pay delay and the proposed budget cuts.