Public Employee Press

At Queens Library
Local presses to rehire laid-off workers

Local 1321 is picking up its fight to end the contracting out of custodian work at Queens Public Library and to get 44 workers laid-off in 2010 back to their jobs.

The initiative comes as the library President and CEO Thomas Galante faces FBI and city investigations and growing pressure to step down.

Local 1321 gathered 1,365 signatures on a petition distributed online and circulated by members at the St. Pat's for All Parade in Sunnyside, Queens. The petition demands:

• rehire the laid-off members,
• stop contracting out custodian services,
• boost staffing, and
• increase support for library services.

"The controversy surrounding President Galante has damaged the library's public image and ability to raise funds, and it threatens our members' hard work building support for public libraries over the years," said Queens Library Guild Local 1321 President John Hyslop. "As this controversy continues, we're going to intensify our campaign to defend our jobs and to promote library services for our patrons."

At the local's March meeting, members presented the petition to Deputy Chief of Staff Leroy Comrie from the office of Queens Borough President Melissa Katz.

Katz has emerged as one of Gallante's most vocal critics - along with Public Advocate Letitia James and City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer - and she has called for the embattled library boss to take a leave of absence.

But at its April 3 meeting, the library's board of trustees deadlocked 9-9 on a motion to suspend him when one trustee flew back from Florida just in time to vote no.

"Taxpayers pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the library system, and there is little to no oversight of their money," said Ibrahim Khan, who represents Public Advocate Letitia James on the board. "We need real accountability and reform."

Galante's public pummeling began when the Daily News exposed his lavish compensation and excessive spending - including a $392,000 pay package and a $140,000 tab for renovating his office and adding a private outdoor smoking lounge - while he implemented staff cuts.

The News later revealed that Galante was earning $150 an hour as a consultant to the Elmont Union Free School District on Long Island and has apparently steered work to a favored contractor, behavior that city and FBI investigators are now probing for possible criminality.

With the four-year call-back list expiring Sept. 20, Local 1321 has stepped up its campaign for rehiring the laid-off members. Hyslop joined the heads of DC 37's three other locals with library workers (Local 374's Cuthbert Dickenson, Local 1930's Valentin Colon and Local 1482's Eileen Muller) at a City Council budget meeting March 11 to press for improved staffing and funding. From 2008 to 2014, the staff of the city's three library systems combined fell by almost 1,000 to 3,283.