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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2020)
PAGE 6 | August 21, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Multnomah County library locations are closed to browsing, but patrons can place materials on hold and schedule appointments to pick them up when they arrive. Library management is planning layoffs Sept. 30, while re- jecting suggestions by members of AF- SCME Local 88 to keep workers em- ployed, like expand- ing the hours avail- able for patrons to pick up hold materi- als. Budget’s fine, but library layoffs loom By Don McIntosh Multnomah County Library is about to lay off a sixth of its workforce by order of the library director, even though its budget is under no threat. All 19 library locations have been closed to the public system- wide since March 14 because of COVID-19. The library contin- ues to pay employee salaries, whether their work can be per- formed or not. In June, the li- brary resumed lending by return- ing staff to the job in limited numbers and allowing patrons to schedule in-person pickups of materials they reserve online. But on July 7, the library an- nounced layoffs would take place anyway. A July 20 email from library human resources department said 128 positions would be eliminated, including nine managers and 119 workers represented by AFSCME Local 88. Laid off employees would continue to get health insurance through the end of the year. “The library cannot pay a sig- nificant portion of its workforce indefinitely for work they are not able to do during the pandemic,” library director Vailey Oehlke wrote in a July 28 statement. “The library must honor its obli- gation to the public that funds the library by acting as a thoughtful and transparent stew- ard of public resources.” Since then, the number slated for layoff has shrunk to as few as 79, Oehlke told Oregon Public Broadcasting Aug. 13. To reduce the number of involuntary lay- offs, administrators have been asking for volunteers to retire or agree to be laid off. Initially, lay- offs were to take place Aug. 30, but at Local 88’s urging, have been moved back to Sept. 30. But library employees like Nicole Newsom question the need for any layoffs in a time of extraordinary community need, when there’s no urgent budget- ary necessity. “The layoffs are unneces- sary,” says Newsom, a union steward and 25-year library em- ployee. “They’re not due to budget issues.” Multnomah County Library is funded with a dedicated property tax. Unlike income tax revenue, which is significantly impacted by the pandemic recession, prop- erty tax revenues are expected to be relatively unaffected. Union members aren’t asking the library to pay employees who aren’t working, but they’re asking the library to be creative in finding work they can do to serve the community. “Even though the buildings aren’t open to the public the way they used to be, the needs and demands of the public haven’t gone away, and in fact there’s probably greater need,” said Lo- cal 88 representative Eben Pull- man.“We’re hoping we can make progress, and encourage li- brary management not to make these cuts.” At one point, the union pro- posed taking part in the Oregon Employment Department’s Workshare program, which pays a partial unemployment benefit for employees who have their hours reduced but library man- agement rejected the suggestion. In early August, after Local 88 proposed a task force to eval- uate member suggestions for ways to avert layoffs, more than 200 library workers contributed ideas. The task force presented the most promising ideas to the library’s executive team Aug. 13. One idea would be to extend hours and shifts. With fewer staff in locations because of so- cial distancing rules, it’s taking the library longer than usual to fulfill hold requests; that, and oc- casional lines for hold pickups, could be eliminated if the library would extend hours at branches the with highest circulation, and schedule two shifts. Other ideas include assigning library staff to work with teachers to help fam- ilies with technology when the school year begins; deploying li- brary workers to help unem- ployed workers with resumes and job searches; allowing mask-wearing patrons back in to browse in limited numbers; holding socially distant chil- dren’s story time outdoors; and providing printing and other services to the public. But Newsom, who served on the task force, said on Aug. 18 In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘work.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining ... We demand this fraud be stopped. The labor move- ment was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. M ARTIN L UTHER K ING , J R . it’s been “radio silence” from management since the sugges- tions were delivered. Rank-and-file members have been organizing to stop the lay- offs, and are calling on the public to write to library management and the County Commission. To get the message out, they created a web site, savelibrarystaff.org “Our members are ready and willing to do the work, and there’s work they could be do- ing,” Pullman said. Congratulations, NW Labor Press on 120 Years of Serving Organized Labor
