By HUEY TACKNIN
On June 7, over 100 people gathered on a warm summer night at Franklin Observatory Park to rally in favor of the Columbus Metropolitan Library United (CMLU) union. Following six months of concerted organizing, CMLU, an affiliate of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, was preparing for a June 12-30 unionization vote, which could win a union for hundreds of local library workers. The vote is now underway, and results will be known in a couple of weeks.
CML United is seeking to unionize librarians, customer service specialists, information service specialists, materials services associates, and drivers and sorters at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s (CML) 23 public library branches. The library system serves over 1 million residents of Franklin County and has been rated 3 times as the best library system in the United States.
Despite the system’s great reputation and centrality to the Columbus community, workers at the Metropolitan libraries have not seen the benefits of this notoriety. Speaking with Rahaf, a library worker and leader in the union, we learned about the variety of difficulties faced by the workers at CML
While CML has a staff relations committee where workers can raise concerns to management, issues are rarely resolved. Instead of taking these concerns seriously, the staff relations committee dismisses them by highlighting “this is how we’ve always done it,” as Rahaf observes. Workers need a union “for us, the workers, to be taken seriously.”
Beyond the lack of control that workers have in resolving long-standing issues, Rahaf highlighted how involuntary transfers and lack of safety harm workers at CML. CML management has a habit of transferring workers across library branches without consultation or consideration of workers’ preferences and needs, leading to high turnover. Columbus is large city with serious urban sprawl, so a transfer can easily make commutes too much to accept for employees forced by management into branches far away from where they reside.
Furthermore, the CML system has faced regular safety concerns, and the workers bear the brunt of CML management’s refusal to find adequate solutions. Public libraries commitment to being “open to all” is laudable in a society with precious few spaces that are free and open to the public. But this means the social issues outside the library come into it. Frequently, workers get caught in the middle of domestic disputes and violence by patrons of the system. Workers have also faced verbal abuse and exposures to bed bugs brought into the libraries. The union seeks to find resolution for these issues that deeply impact the well-being of workers in the face of management inaction.
When asked “why now?” regarding the unionization campaign, Rahaf responded, “It boils down to, that we want a platform to share in talking to customers. We need a platform to share our concerns and be heard. So many times we have not been heard. With budget cuts and legislation which threatens censorship at libraries, the time to build a union is now.”
Libraries in the United States have long been a central site of free speech, intellectual inquiry, and social support for the whole community. Attacks by the state government and federal governments against both funding and the autonomy of library systems present a threat to fundamental democratic rights.
We have seen this phenomenon in a particularly egregious form with the waves of book bannings sweeping the country. A union for CML workers would offer a vital platform for workers to resist these attacks and defend the right to a democratic library system.
CMLU has expressed confidence that the ongoing vote will go their way. We will see the results of the vote on July 7. A win for CML workers would be a win for the whole community given the centrality of the library system for our city.
Library workers deserve decent pay and benefits, control over their working conditions, and safety on the job. Beyond securing what CML workers deserve, CMLU has the opportunity to resist the attacks on our public library system and democratic rights. For these reasons, workers in Columbus should watch the upcoming vote and offer their solidarity to the union as it fights for better for workers and our community.
Photo: CML United