Now that Local 1930 has won its fight to boost librarian salaries, it is undertaking a new battle to improve the pay of New York Public Library clerical workers.

Scores of Local 1930 members demonstrated during a rainstorm May 21 to demand that NYPL clerical workers be paid at the same rate as their counterparts in the city and the Brooklyn and Queens library systems.

Tackling another issue, Local 1930 members hit the streets again May 29 with NYPL blue-collar workers in Quasi-Public Employees Local 374. The workers were protesting the library’s resistance to prompt payment of the two 4 percent raises in the new economic agreement between the city and DC 37.

At the May 21 clerical pay protest, Local 1930 members tooted whistles, chanted “Clerks do the work!” and “Upgrades Now!” as they marched with umbrellas in front of the central library at 42nd Street in Manhattan.

“We want to be treated equally with other clerks in the city,” said Local 1930 Treasurer Carol Thomas, an Office Associate III. The city pays new clerical workers substantially more than NYPL offers, Ms. Thomas said. Local 1930 also wants NYPL to match the career plan of the city and the Queens and Brooklyn systems, where clerical workers have better promotional opportunities.

Furthermore, the local wants the salaries of senior clerical staff to be raised to match similar city workers.

Last year, Local 1930 filed a group grievance over the pay disparities, and the local is pressing for clerical upgrading in their unit contract negotiations.

“We are the backbone of the library, which would fall apart if we weren’t there,” said Stephanie Tolbert, Local 1930’s vice president for clericals, at the demonstration. “Yet our pay is falling behind while we are improving our skills and services by using new technologies.”

Pay hikes now
Meanwhile, following the May 29 demonstration by Locals 1930 and 374 and discussions between top officials of DC 37 and the library, NYPL agreed to pay the two 4 percent increases in the new economic agreement on June 29.

Since the city and most non-mayoral agencies had agreed to the union’s request for quick payment of the wage increases, Local 1930 President Ray Markey and Local 384 President Jacob Azeke decided to press the Library to speed the pay hikes.