Public Employee Press

Union mourns Lynn Taylor, former Local 1930 president

Lynn Taylor, a former president of New York Public Library Guild Local 1930 and longtime radical trade unionist, died May 10 after a long bout with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. She was 69.

"Lynn was very active politically, and she was always a force behind our demonstrations," said Local 1930 President Valentin Colon.

Before moving to New York City in the 1970s, Taylor worked as an organizer in the South for DC 37's parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Taylor held a master's degree in library science and was hired in 1977 as a Librarian at the New York Public Library in a position funded by the federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

She threw herself into the task of organizing the CETA workers and was a key member of a committee that reached out to DC 37 to gain representation for many of them, said Local 1549 2nd Vice President Ralph Palladino, a former CETA worker.

After becoming a Senior Librarian, Taylor worked in a number of branches before becoming a Supervising Branch Librarian at the New Amsterdam library in downtown Manhattan.
Taylor served Local 1930 as a shop steward, chaired its Women's Committee and was active in the union's campaign to end apartheid in South Africa and in solidarity work against U.S. policy in Central America during the Reagan years. She became vice president of the local in the 1990s and was president from 2004 to 2006.

Her accomplishments as president included bringing library art handlers into the local, supporting tuition reimbursement for library trainees, winning extra pay for Information Assistants, and securing raises from nearly $3,400 to $4,100 for 250 newer Librarians.

"Lynn had a very broad sense of social justice," said Christine Karatnytsky, a former Executive Board member. "She was a mentor to me, and taught me a lot about feminism and politics."

Her husband, Glenn Mills, a jazz trombonist and retired NYPL Librarian, attributed Taylor's involvement in the labor movement to her deep commitment to bettering the lives of all working people and promoting peace and justice.

Members and friends will always remember Taylor for her whimsical battle cry, "All power to the public sector!"