Tentative Agreement Reached in Vancouver Library Strike
Jennifer Pinkowski -- Library Journal, 10/19/2007
After “modifications” were made to the deal they overwhelmingly voted against last week, striking library workers in Vancouver, BC, now have a new tentative agreement to approve. On Thursday, spokespeople from both the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) and CUPE Local 391 announced that the new deal, the details of which are unspecified due to a media blackout, will be voted on today by the 775 library workers represented by the union. A two-thirds majority is required to ratify the agreement. If members approve the city’s offer—they overwhelmingly rejected a previous deal on October 9—the agreement then will come before the library board. If both sides accept the deal, “library staff will return to work on Monday and libraries will open to the public on Wednesday at the earliest,” according to Jean Kavanagh, a spokesperson for the VPL.The news comes nearly three months after librarians walked off the job on July 26 and a week after two other groups of striking Vancouver municipal workers accepted deals with the city and returned to work. The union has maintained that pay inequity exists between the mostly female library workforce and the mostly male municipal workforce at all skill levels, and argued for improved rights for part-time and auxiliary workers. Last week, city librarian Paul Whitney contended, in a statement released by the VPL, that a city analysis shows pay equity is not a factor in city salaries, a position the union strongly rejected. How the new deal differs from the one rejected last week is unknown, but the Vancouver Sun reported that “The agreement is consistent with recommendations made by mediator Brian Foley, but have been slightly modified, according to a private memo.”
