Staff scramble to stack shelves after labour dispute
KIM WESTAD
Times Colonist: 2008 April 2
kwestad@tc.canwest.com
All Greater Victoria Public Library return chutes will be open tomorrow, and its nine branches will open Tuesday, putting an end to a bitter labour dispute that has closed the GVPL library system since February.
The labour association, which negotiates on behalf of the library, approved an agreement yesterday that the employees had ratified earlier.
Both union and management representatives said they’re happy a compromise has been reached that allows them all to get back to work.
Some employees were back at work yesterday, working with management to figure out the best way to get the branches up and running again — and to shelve the thousands of books, DVDs and CDs that have been stuffed through the Central Library book drop. That was the only book drop open since the library locked out employees on Feb. 17.
The main entry to the branch is filled with 275 boxes of books, with another 30 book trolleys piled high.
“I’m very glad to see staff back in,” said Barry Holmes, the library’s chief executive officer. “Libraries have books and all sorts of material, but really, they’re about people. It’s not the same if you don’t have people.”
Most basic services, such as checking out and returning materials, information questions, access to the Internet and the library website, will be available on Tuesday. Additional services and programs will be phased in over the next few weeks.
No late fees will be charged for the time of the lockout, Feb. 17 to April 8. There will also be a two-week grace period until April 20 for the return of previously borrowed materials.
Holds that were to be picked up at the beginning of the lockout have been extended. For specific information on holds and other specialty services, visit the library website at www.gvpl.ca.
The key issue in the labour dispute was pay equity. Library workers took a strike vote in the fall, and held several days of job action before the Feb. 17 lockout.
CUPE Local 410 said they had not been given pay equity with the City of Victoria, as they said a 1992 contract promised. The library said that was not what the contract meant, and that the workers already had pay equity.
In the end, both sides compromised, leading to mediation that broke the 45-day deadlock.
The union agreed to pay equity compared to municipal wages at the municipalities of Oak Bay and Esquimalt, rather than Victoria, which is the highest paid municipality, said CUPE Local 410 spokesman Ed Seedhouse.
“We wanted to be compared with a group that had pay equity wrapped up,” he said. “It didn’t have to be with the highest paid municipal workers in the region.”
The pay increases vary, depending on individual positions. Everyone will see some pay increase, Seedhouse said, with the largest increases for those at the very bottom and very top of the pay scale.
The contract runs through Dec. 31, 2010. At that point, the union will agree that pay equity has been achieved.
Another key issue in the dispute was “wages for pages,” the people who shelve books, who were classified as auxiliary workers. In the new agreement, nine full-time senior page positions will be created. They’ll start at $17.80 an hour. Other pages will remain auxiliary positions, and will also receive a pay increase.
Prior to the lockout, auxiliary pages were paid $11.03 an hour. When they return to work under the new agreement, they’ll start at $12.13 an hour, Seedhouse said.
