Good News for Resisters
Here is a brief update on progress made by the librarians of the Westland Michigan public library to improve working conditions.
Five Librarians Fired for Unionizing
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) formally notified the Westland, Michigan, library board of the staff’s intent to unionize, and two days later, five librarians were fired. Suspicious. The SEIU did file a ULP (jargon — Unfair Labor Practices).
For details of previous stories on this issue, please see:
Good News: 85% of library staff vote FOR a union!
In late April, 32 staff members returned ballots on whether or not to unionize. The tally showed 27 for forming a union and 5 against.
My daughter, one of the five fired librarians, has been hired by the SEIU to help organize the library staff. The meet-and-greet between negotiators from both sides will take place soon. Members of the library staff who voted to unionize will select negotiators from the staff to represent them in the negotiations.
It seems that about 30 citizens show up at library board meetings and Westland city council meetings to support the librarians. The city council has about seven members, and five seats are open this year. At least three of the regular protesters and supporters of the librarians are running for seats on the city council.
More Good News: Opinions of the board are shifting.
The library board includes seven members, including the Trump-like chair of the board, Mark Neil. [See update, below.] The on-site director of the library, Sheila Collins, is reported to be extremely verbally abusive of staff. She is so bad, it is unbelievable that she continues to be director. However, she has had the “100 percent” support of the board chair. The board has been unanimously behind the library director “100 percent” because their source of information was the chairman.
Now one of the board members, Bob Johnson, has changed his mind, given the information provided by staff and citizens. If you want to watch his speech, it begins at about the 59-minute mark in the video below, but I must warn you … he … speaks … very … slowly.
In addition, one of the board members will be moving out of town, so the mayor has the opportunity to appoint another member of the board.
Here is the most recent library board meeting, May 10.
An Observation
Well organized protests create change. Keep at it!
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Update: The Westland city council has seven members (not six, as originally reported). Four seats will be voted on in the next election, this fall. The abusive director of the library, Ms. Collins, continues to be on administrative leave.