Wednesday night’s meeting of the Evanston Public Library Board of Trustees started off ugly and kept going downhill, as labor and management fired verbal shots at each other. More than fifty unionized library employees, many carrying signs, were on hand to oppose what their president said was the Library Board’s “trying to push through a deal behind closed doors” for the city to give the main library building to the board, “removing any oversight as to how this space is utilized.” Actually, that’s what AFSCME Local 1189 President Eileen O’Neil would have said, except the board limited all public speakers to one minute. The board has a 45-minute public comment period, and with 15 people signed up, O’Neil later told reporters that she and other speakers could have easily been given more time, so she read her entire remarks outside, after the meeting. During her one minute in the session, O’Neil said Mayor Daniel Biss should “remove .[the] current leadership, and build a board that will provide true oversight of the library director.” O’Neil also said City Council should hold the city budget until the Library Board removes its human resources manager’s position, and said the library should be overseen by a city department. Several other union members complained about safety, and their lack of trust in library leadership. “Right now our staff is hurting,” said library worker Eric Parker. Board President Tracy Fulce fired back, saying “we will not be rushed, pressured, or provoked” into any decisions. “No noise, no speeches, just the work.” She said that “the level of hostility directed at us, black women leading a major institution,” is totally inappropriate. Both Fulce and Library Director Yolande Wilburn are Black. It was not clear specifically whom Fulce was talking about. This was the latest portion of an ongoing dispute on whether the library should be split off from the city, as suggested earlier this year by a library consultant. That type of split could lead to an elected rather than mayor-appointed library board, with the power to put tax referenda on the ballot, possible for maintenance needs. The union president’s written statement said “AFSCME Local 1189 is firmly opposed to either a transfer or a lease of this [main library] building under current library leadership.” The union is concerned about pay and working conditions if members would work for an independent library instead of for the city, as they do now. AFSCME represents about 75 library employees and another 275 other city workers. (Police and firefighters are represented by separate unions.) The specific flashpoint for the verbal battle was whether there was supposed to be a joint session with City Council on this night to discuss the library’s future operations. The union claimed that the Library Board cancelled the session at the last minute. “Leadership talks about transparency, but their actions say otherwise,” union leader O’Neil said. But the library president said there were certain items that city council wanted to discuss which could not legally be discussed in public, so there never was a specific agenda created. “This board did not cancel a properly noticed meeting,” Fulce said. “No such meeting ever existed.” As for where things are heading next, indications were that library and city staff are trying to figure out what can be discussed. And then, of course, whatever is discussed would then have to be approved if there are to be any changes. Actually, one thing which was approved by the board was a 10% increase in the library’s share of property taxes, which officials said would cost the average homeowner an additional $28 per year. That now goes to council for incorporation into the overall city tax levy.
https://evanstonnow.com/labor-relations-get-hostile-at-epl/
Labor relations get hostile at EPL
