NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | December 2, 2016 | PAGE 5
AFSCME #88’s Irwin turns the page on 46-year library career
Janet Irwin retired Oct. 31 after
46 years as a librarian for Mult-
nomah County. At the same
time, she also surrendered her
seat on the Executive Board of
the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council, where she was the sec-
ond most senior member.
Irwin has been a member of
Multnomah County Employees
AFSCME Local 88 for 26
years. Prior to that she was pres-
ident and 20-year member of the
independent Library Employees
of Multnomah County. At that
time, Portland-area libraries
were privately operated by the
Library Association of Portland,
which received the bulk of its
budget from public funds.
Irwin has been a librarian in
the Rose City her entire working
life. After earning a masters de-
gree in library science from
Western Michigan University
she came out west in August
1970 to be closer to her parents
in Seattle. But with no library
jobs available there, she ven-
tured down to Portland. In Oc-
tober 1970 the Library Associa-
tion of Portland hired her as a
temp to cover for a librarian on
Janet Irwin retired
after a 46-year career
at Multnomah County
Library.
maternity leave at the Central
Library downtown. She’s been
employed by the library system
ever since.
In 1974, library employees
voted to form an independent li-
brary staff association. Irwin,
who was branch manager at the
Belmont Library, was elected
treasurer. In early 1978 she was
promoted to head of circulation
at Central Library. She remained
in the union, but resigned as
treasurer because of the added
work responsibilities.
Irwin was at the bargaining
table when the first union con-
tract was ratified. Department
and branch heads were no longer
part of the union, but the contract
had language allowing union
members who had promoted to
management to bump back into
the union based on their union
seniority. Irwin took that option.
The ensuing years were diffi-
cult for the union as it battled the
Library Association and its di-
rectors over work and budget is-
sues. It got so bad that employ-
ees struck for three days in 1980.
“I remember walking picket
lines at both Central and Rock-
wood, “Irwin said. “If I had re-
mained a manager, I wouldn’t
have been able to strike.”
Workplace strife settled down
following the strike, but battles
over funding continued.
In July 1990, Multnomah
County took over the then 15-
branch library system (there are
now 22 branches), and the 350
employees were incorporated
into Multnomah County Em-
ployees Local 88. [In November
2012, voters approved forma-
tion of the Multnomah County
Library District to fund library
services.]
“I worked very hard getting li-
brary workers involved in Local
88,” said Irwin, who served as an
elected vice president and secre-
tary of Local 88, as well as a del-
egate to state and international
AFSCME conventions. She once
ran unsuccessfully for president.
In November 1995, Irwin was
elected to the Executive Board of
the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council. As a Board member,
she helped found the Council’s
Labor History Committee.
Irwin completed her library
career at Central Library as an In-
formation Services Librarian,
working with the Oregon collec-
tion, local history, and genealogy.
“I’ve always wanted to be a
public librarian, and I’ve always
loved going to work ... until re-
cently,” said Irwin, 69. “I was
constantly tired. I was going to
work in the dark, and coming
home in the dark. Sometimes
you just don’t want to do it any-
more,” she said.
The oldest of nine children,
Irwin was born in Vancouver,
Wash., but spent the first few
years of her life in a housing
complex at McNeil Island Fed-
eral Penitentiary, where her fa-
ther worked as a government
employee. The Irwin family
lived in several cities, including
Milwaukie, Ore., before settling
down in Port Huron, Mich. Ir-
win graduated from high school
there, then moved 170 miles
west to attend Western Michi-
gan University in Kalamazoo.
By the time she graduated from
college, her parents had been re-
assigned to Seattle.
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