Toronto Library workers hoping to send message to city
Posted April 30, 2016 1:21 pm.
Last Updated April 30, 2016 9:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nathan Phillip’s Square served as the meeting ground for Toronto’s library workers and their union representatives Saturday afternoon, as they garnered public support ahead of a looming Monday strike deadline.
The Teddy Bear Picket kicked off at 11 a.m., hours before CUPE Local 4948 was expected to return to the negotiation table.
“We’re hoping to send a message to the city,” said union president Maureen O’Reilly.
The union says 50 per cent of the workers are part-time employees, and among their list of demands, include more stability for precarious workers.
“They’re struggling under the current working conditions, and we certainly need a way forward on those issues,” O’Reilly explained.
Other demands include employment security and wage increases.
“A lot of the things that we’re asking for are things that have fallen way below the rate of inflation and haven’t been increased in 10 or 15 years,” she said.
They want to see library workers assigned to permanent locations. Employees like Gobishankur Sooriyakumar and Ada Jaworska work at several locations, with no consistency in scheduling.
“We have to have a proper schedule,” Sooriyakumar said. “That way, we’d be able to deliver the quality service that Toronto deserves.”
“It’ll mean more stability in my life,” Jaworska added.
The Union says it will continue negotiating ahead of Monday’s 12:01 a.m. strike deadline.
A walkout would affect 100 libraries in the city.
“We’re in every neighbourhood in the city, and we’re a vital part of the infrastructure in this city,” said Joanne Schwartz, a Librarian in Toronto.
“There’s always a possibility for resolution, there’s lots of time to negotiate a collective agreement,” O’Reilly added.
But it’s not just the union that’s looking to reduce precarious work, former MP Andrew Cash is leading a campaign aimed at changing Canada’s labour laws.
“This is a struggle that goes far beyond just library workers,” he said. “It’s important that we realize that the fight library workers fight today, is a fight that sole and self-employed people are fighting too.”
Cash, the Co-founder of the Urban Worker Project, says the national initiative will highlight the plight faced by employees who don’t have access to pension, benefits or job security.
“We want to raise the issue, make it one of the issues that public policy has to deal with,” he explains. “Whether we’re dealing with municipal, provincial or federal governments, we need to be looking through the lens of precarious work when we build out new public policy.”
The Urban Worker Project is expected to launch Friday May 6th at Propeller Coffee in Toronto. Cash says this is the first of many events that will help to build the community needed to push for legislative change.