Labor-Management Notes

These are the minutes of the most recent Labor-Management Committee meeting. All in all, I felt that it was a productive meeting. I was particularly encouraged to see that the administration has taken our concerns about staffing (particularly in the branches) to heart.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20th at 2pm. If there's anything that you'd like added to the agenda, please let us know.

Thanks to Alima for taking notes.
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Labor Management Meeting

Friday May 30, 2008

Present: Patrice Hollman, Tim Burke, Marjorie Reinhart, Chris Saagas, Joe Burke, Amy Brozio-Andrews, Alima Atoui, Melissa Wasilewski

1. Union: The unionized workers of the Albany Public Library have changed organizations, from AFSCME Council 66 to CSEA Local 1000. This change requires some cooperation from the administration, such as adjusting the union dues for employees, and recognizing the unionized workers as CSEA Local 1000, although our current contract may refer to us as AFSCME Council 66. Administration has no problem with these requests.

2. Safety Committee: The Safety Committee, headed by Patrice, met initially in February 2008. It plans to meet next some time after the opening of the Pine Hills Transitional Library. Patrice has planned for the committee to meet 3-4 times per year.
Melissa asked if the budget had taken into consideration the placement of security officers at branch locations. Tim responded that it had not. The consideration that security might not be necessary if the libraries were adequately staffed was put forth.

3. Staffing at New Libraries: The plan is for the new branch libraries to be open forty-four hours per week with some weekend hours for the entire year. Except for the Pine Hills Library, branch circulation desks are to always be staffed by two clerks. The reference desk is to be staffed for thirty hours per week by one employee (either a librarian or a library assistant). As for the Pine Hills Library, the circulation desk, on the first floor, will be staffed at all times by two library clerks. An adjacent service desk that will provide youth services will be staffed thirty hours per week. On the second floor there will be a reference desk that is to be staffed by one person for forty-four hours per week.

4. Deep Clean of Main Branch: The third floor of the main branch was cleaned by an outside cleaning company at the beginning of 2008. The second and first floors were expected to be cleaned also, but they were not. Administration states that they are unsure they can afford the cost of cleaning the other two floors. On a related note, Patrice is working closely with the maintenance department to improve the cleanliness of the main library and asks for cooperation from all staff. Staff enthusiastically agrees to just about anything that will make this building cleaner!

5. Teen Employment: Melissa is working on a grant funded program to employee teenagers at Albany Public Library locations.

Library Vote Today

Not that any of us need reminding, but don't forget to vote for the library budget today. Polls are open noon to 9pm.

P.S.Steve Alviene, CSEA's Director of Field and Member Services, has emailed everyone at CSEA headquarters to get out the vote. Thank you Steve.

And the winner is...

CSEA!

By a unanimous vote of the largest APL union meeting in recent memory CSEA will now represent the employees of the Albany Public Library! Thanks to everyone who attended meetings, and assisted in the months long process of researching and investigating the various contenders.

I guess we'll have to come up with a new name for the blog now. Stay tuned.

HOT off the Press!

Union leadership has unanimously recommended that the APL employees union vote to join CSEA. It is the considered opinion of the union leadership that CSEA represents the best fit for the employees of APL. Final vote to be held tomorrow!

Thu union will hold a meeting tomorrow, Friday May 16th, 6:30pm at APLM, to make a final determination about which union to join. You must be present to vote.

If you attend only one union meeting this year, make it this one!

Union Pros and Cons

Prepared for the AFSCME Local 3933 Leadership Meeting, May 15, 2008

AFSCME Council 66

Pro:

• Historical relationship
• New labor rep seems competent

Con:

• No back-end support
• Nearly impossible to contact rep
• Have never seen our representative
• Too Big-Impossible to comprehend dues structure
• Difficult to get out of
• Complex Accounting Requirements
• In-house staff required – ie. President, Vice-President, Treasurer
• Not Local
• Flat dues structure unfair
• Out of touch with our situation/needs, etc.
• Late or no notification of dues increases
• Dues increases on workers who earn the least
• No sign of changing

CSEA

Pro:

• Close to Home
• Keep our Money
• Represent several other Libraries in area. (Guilderland, Bethlehem, Schenectady and soon possibly East Greenbush)
• Eager to represent us-Graduated dues schedule that is easy to understand.
• They say we do not have to pay anything beyond dues.
• The most progressive dues structure of all three unions.
• The transition would be much easier than with UPSEU
• Locally active-Experienced with civil service
• Represent persons of various job classifications
• Any budget votes we need passed could be greatly influenced by the 22,000 members of in Albany.
• They will not neglect us living right next door.
• Back-end support promised
• Reps know how to use e-mail
• A lot of experience, members, political clout
• I kinda like that our dues go to TV ads
• Quickly responded to concerns regarding air quality and workplace violence
• Wants to establish an organization of local library unions

Con:

• Very Large
• Still AFSCME
• Slow to respond to our initial request
• Difficult to leave
• Requires in house staff - ie President, Vice President, Treasurer
• Complex accounting requirements
• Will spend some dues money on television ads and political contributions
• Slow to respond to us initially

UPSEU

Pro:

• UPSEU claims that we would not have to pay for anything beyond dues
• Not AFSCME!
• Easy to Leave
• No Complex Accounting
• No In-house staffing necessary
• Simplest dues structure
• Small & Responsive
• Responded immediately when we called them the first time
• Local & easy to reach
• Very eager to have us as members
• Experienced negotiators
• Promise to be there when we need them
• Many organizations are breaking away from CSEA to join UPSEU
• UPSEU is easy to get out of
• Everyone seems to want to stay with them once they join
• Highly recommended by an expert with extensive union experience

Con:

• Negative reports from union negotiators that work for other unions
• Negative reports from other libraries that UPSEU represents
• Some of the information they have presented us has been either misleading or impossible to verify
• They have not given us the contact information they promised us for other UPSEU shops
• They cannot match the resources that CSEA has to assist us in our upcoming contract negotiations
• Small ( how much clout?)
• Lose our savings (perhaps)
• They don't represent local libraries

CSEA reps at APLM

Kate Luscombe, regional director of CSEA, will be setting up a table in the employees lounge on the third floor from Noon to 2pm today. She will distribute information and answer any questions about CSEA and why the union should elect to join them. If you were unable to attend last Friday's meeting with CSEA, please take a few minutes this afternoon to talk with her.

Union Search--Your Input Needed

Below you will find blog entries for each of the three union options we have before us, AFSCME Council 66, CSEA and UPSEU. If you click on the headline for each post, you will be able to leave comments you have on each option. Please feel free to leave comments, questions, or issues you have regarding the pros and cons of joining each organization. No point is too small to be discussed. Please also read other peoples' comments. This coming Friday, May 16th, the union will meet again at APLM at 6:30pm to weigh the pros and cons of each group and take a vote on which union to join. I hope to see you all there.

AFSCME Council 66: Pros and Cons

Please post any comments you might have about Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), our current union, based upon your experiences with that group.

CSEA: Pros and Cons

Please post any comments you might have about Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), based upon your impressions of them from the meetings held here and the information they provided.

UPSEU: Pros and Cons

Please post any comments you might have about United Public Service Employees Union (UPSEU), based upon your impressions of them from the meetings held here and the information they provided.

Be on the lookout.....

.... for information on the AFSCME, UPSEU and CSEA visits from April and May 2008. Information from these meetings will be posted, along with a formal recommedation to the membership. This will be available for member review before a general membership meeting and vote.