Mediation recommendations: what's going to happen with the CUPE 391 library workers?

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, came to speak to Vancouver library workers on Friday, giving her support for pay equity, stating that library workers have been under-valued. photo Beth Lowther

Mediator Brian Foley, published and gave his recommendations to resolve the Vancouver civic strike with City Inside, City Outside, and City Library Workers on Friday morning Oct 5th.  By 4pm, we had a CBC television news reporter asking library workers for comment.  Our library workers refused to give a comment, as did union members working at the union office.

On the Friday afternoon picket line, we hadn't seen the document yet, but the CBC television reporter gave us the 39 page document and said there is a 17.5 percent increase over five years, a $1000 signing bonus, whistle blower protection, and agreement for contracting out. 

Well, the whistle blower protection wasn't one of our issues, nor were the first 32 pages applicable to the library.  Only the final 7 pagers addressed the library issues.  We have the smallest 800 member union.  And it has been typical that library workers have been seen as the most docile, least protesting – yet underpaid, and under-valued city workers.  This is our first strike in our 77 year union history.

Our library workers did not give the CBC reporter any comment about the recommendations, stating that we would wait for our union bargaining committee to discuss it with us at our planned Sunday meeting, and that we picketed for 70+ days already, we were cautiously optimistic and not going to rush things.  I did give general statements that we were disappointed with city management keeping this strike going for so long, especially since city councilor Raymond Louie had called for mediation back on August 1st.  And I one of my statements was included on Friday night's evening news…. as I was holding my accordion.

This has been an unnecessary strike as the library bargaining committee kept refusing to address union issues, and walking away from the bargaining table.  It is unconsciencable that Library management did not make an opening contract proposal until 2 weeks into the strike, 8 months after the contract expired on Dec 16, 2006.

At a meeting on Sunday morning, CUPE 391 bargaining committee recommended to its membership to reject the mediator Brian Foley's recommendations.  General comments were that the recommendations were lopsided in favour of the Library management, and that the mediator did not understand the issue of pay equity. 

In a Vancouver Sun interview published on Saturday, Foley said that he thought it best to address pay equity by “give them the damn money” by giving 40% of the library workers a one pay grade increase, but without any explanation why specific job positions were selected.  It did not make any sense to the 300+ library workers gathered.

The $1000 signing bonus was also laughed off as bribe.  Conditions were that it would be pro-rated according to hours worked per week, from January 1st to July 25th.  But questions came up as to the minimum per week that had to be required, as well as job shares, or for part-time workers.  Signing bonuses for these workers would then be reduced to less than $500 or as low as $200, then take away the tax on that and the $1000 signing bonus is virtually worthless.  The union had asked for a $2500 bonus.

The good thing is that any of the increases were all dated to January 1st for each year.  The Library bargaining committee has each time tried to move raises to later dates in the year.  Foley did not allow that to happen.

Vancouver library workers have said all along, that this strike is not about the money.  It is a given that 17.5% would be the benchmark, as it was accepted by neighboring cities and library workers.  This strike has been about fairness, respect and pay equity.  Not one of these issues was addressed by Brian Foley's mediated recommendations.  Expect Vancouver library workers to reject his recommendations.

See other media sources:

City strike

Deal in doubt

CBC.ca News – 2 Vancouver unions urge rejection

Friday Oct 5th, good and sunny day on the strike line

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, holds up CUPE 391 Strike placard – photo Beth Lowther

Good day on the strike line today… Author Naomi Klein came to visit Vancouver Library workers and gave a short talk.  She was invited by Craig Searle.

Naomi Klein poses with Vancouver library workers Craig Searle and Todd Wong.  Craig invited Klein to come speak to CUPE 391.  Todd had organized a series or writer's readings from August to September. – photo Beth Lowther

Monica Chattaway brought her violin, and we did some violin/accordion duets on some '20's and '30's songs.

CBC Canada Now reporter came down to the Library Square picket line and interviewed some of us, looking for a reaction to the released recommendations by mediator Brian Foley.  We kept it pretty tight with no comments, as we are waiting for deeper analysis.  My accordion and me… made it on to the evening news.

Vote on the recommendations coming up on Sunday.
(vote was since rescheduled to Tuesday to allow for more members returning from Thanksgiving holidays, and to give our bargaining committee more time to go over the recommendations).

Word on the Strike…CUPE 391 picket line adds creativity to annual Word on the Street event

It was a busy day down at Vancouver's biggest book and magazine fair, Word on the Street.  Lots of authors including Ruth Ozeki, Meg Tilly, Stan Persky, Vincent Lam and many many more.  Unfortunately… it rained a lot, but it didn't dampen spirits!

When I bumped into author Stan Persky and Hal Wake, Stan told Hal that the last reading he had done was the one I set up with Stan for the CUPE 391 picket line on August 24th.  Stan thought it was so appropriate that since his books at the library were “locked up” and unavailable to the public, he could come down to Library Square and give a reading.

Joy Kogawa House Society also had a booth at the fair, located at the Canada Post parking lot site.  Joy Kogawa House is not only the childhood home of one of Canada's most important authors, it is also the only publicly known house that was confiscated by the Canadian government while Japanese Canadians were being held in internment camps during WW2.

Ann-Marie Metten set up the display.  David Kogawa took a turn attending it, then my girlfriend Deb Martin and I also took some turns.  The display featured pictures of Joy Kogawa as a child at the house, and her grade 2 picture at David Lloyd George Elementary School in Marpole before the 1942 internment of Japanese Canadians during WW2. 

We handed out postcard invitations to the November 10th Open House event, which will feature authors Ruth Ozeki and Shaena Lambert.  The title of the event is War and Remembrance, and follows the 2 year anniversary of when we presented the Vancouver Opera's Touring production of Naomi's Road, at the Vancouver Public Library in 2005 to help build awareness of the campaign to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home.

For the Word on the Strike event held by CUPE 391, as an “enhanced picket line,”  I played my accordion to help add musical ambiance.  It was great to see so many people dancing to my tango, or waltzes.  Author Jean Barman dropped by to say hello.  Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver District Labour Council, dropped by and we sang “O Solo Mio” together.

Cupe15 workers Randy and Diane, are also the leaders of the Cantastoria street theatre 
group that has been going from strike site to strike site putting on their story about 
hard-working labourers who build a strong community, only to be stepped on by the 
"big foot."

Check out my flickr pictures

WOTS: Word on the Street / Word on the Strike…

Music Cabaret for Vancouver District Labour Council at the Rhizome

Friday Night, September 28th
Rhizome Café
317 East Broadway, Vancouver. Phone: 604.872.3166.

It was the first VDLC music cabaret, held at the Rhizome Cafe.  Organized by Earle Peach, donations at the door were raised for CUPE 391 Vancouver Library workers' hardship fund.  I was MC for the event, and I have worked for the Vancouver Public Library for over thirty years, all but one year as a part-time employee. 

Each month Earle Peach has organized a music cabaret held at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre… but that is closed now due to the Vancouver civic strike.  He contacted a few months ago and asked me to MC this new event at the Rhizome.

This was an incredible night of community, labour songs and superb musicianship.  I didn't know a lot of songs from the labour canon, other than “Solidarity Forever” – but this turned into an evening where I learned a lot about the labour movement, its history, and some of the players in Vancouver.  And I told them all that I wished I could wrap my arms around them all, give them a big big hug, and bring them down to Library Square to meet my CUPE 391 Union brothers and sisters, and have them perform at Word on the Strike.

At the end of the evening almost $500 had been raiser for the CUPE 391 hardship fund for the Vancouver Library Workers.  Here I am holding the money jar with (l-r) Phil Vernon, Dan Keeton, Todd Wong (me), Bill Saunders, Bob Rosen, Earle Peach and Barbara Jackson.

I started off by introducing myself and my accordion, and telling the audience that I was putting in my time on the picket line at Library Square.  I told them about how we have a very creative and engaging picket line with musicians and knitters, flying bicycle pickets that go visit other library sites, community centres and other picket sites for CUPE 15 and 1004 Vancouver City inside and outside workers, who are also on strike.  I demonstrated the songs I play on the line, and how I make my accordion sound like an organ at a hockey game…

Liz Thor-Larsen, started the evening off playing on her accoustic guitar and sing songs about being a union maid.

More Than Just Pay, are a group of school teachers that sang lively tunes about labour strife.

Tom Hawken–songs

Sandy Cameron read a short poem then a long poem about when the Relief Camp Workers' Union went on strike in 1935, occupying the Carnegie Centre, then going On to Ottawa.

Dave Lidstone & Andrea Smith–songs

I acknowledged that Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver District Labour Council, was in the audience and that he spoke at the Anniversaries 1907 Reconciliation Dinner – about the role that organized labour played in the Anti-Asian riots 100 year ago, and how things have changed 100 years labour with racial diversity becoming a positive issue for labour unions. 

I then read a poem I had written about my great-great grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan, who came to Canada in 1896, upon the occasion of seeing a picture of him hanging on the wall of a photo exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Jen Efting– sang a beautiful accapella song.

Earle Peach & Barbara Jackson were next.  I told the story of how I first met Earle on Facebook.  Soon after I was driving down Clark Drive and spotted him at a bus stop recognizing his picture from Facebook.  I drove around the corner to come by the bus stop, and offered him a ride.  Earle and Barbara did some wonderful harmonies on their songs.  Earle also leads the Solidarity Notes Choir, which has performed at Library Square and Brittania Branch libraries during the library strike.

Dan Keeton hosts a show on Co-op Radio called Union Made.  He sang several songs including a Steve Earle song.

Peter Marcus–poetry

Phil Vernon has been a long time activist who now lives on Saltspring Island.  He told some great introductions to each of his songs.  In particular was a song titled Baruka, about supporting the labourers in Africa, where he and his partner do work.

Bob Rosen & the Gram Partisans closed the evening.  Prior to introducing them to the audience, they shared with me their love for the music of Gram Parsons, Steve Earle, and I shared with them my love for Emmylou Harris' music. All the band members are teachers. 

Very cool that Bill Hood is a member of this band.  I first met Bill when he told me about a fundraiser that he did at Chief Maquinna School for the “Save Kogawa House” campaign.  I had invited Bill to the first open house last year for Joy Kogawa House.  Of course I love almost any band with an accordion!

VDLC Music Cabaret, inaugural Sep 28,…

Capitalizing on the diverse talents and creativity of Vancouver's library and civic workers, Word on the Strike, held along side of Word on the Street,
is intended as a complementary event featuring a diverse range of
information tables, haiku, face painting, a puppet show, origami,
buttons, and much more. Word on the Strike collector edition buttons will be distributed by donation at the event.

“We are pleased that Word on the Street will be able to
continue this year, and that we are able to keep the integrity of our
picket line in such an innovative way,” said CUPE 391 President Alex
Youngberg. “The past 10 weeks have been very difficult for both our
members and Vancouver residents. It is very important to us that we
continue to positively engage with the public.”

CUPE 391 and CUPE 15 members are looking forward to welcoming the
community to their event and are encouraging festival attendees,
authors, participants and performers to visit them at Library Square.

Word on the Strike
Sunday, September 30, 2007
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Library Square, 350 West Georgia Street

This week on the Library Square picket line… when I'm 64!

“When I get older… when I'm 64” – Chris and me waving to the cars on Georgia St.

I played Beatles songs on my accordion on Tuesday.  This was to celebrated Day 64 on the CUPE 391 Library workers picket line.  Music is a great way to lighten the mood, and engage the public.  I receive so many smiles from passers by, and so many thank yous from my fellow picketers.

On Wednesday evening, my friend Monica and I were sitting at the CUPE 391 information booth at the corner of Homer and Georgia when we noticed all the people wearing Canucks had an exhibition hockey game down the street at GM Place.  Monica hadn't brought her violin – but I had my accordion.  I quickly grabbed it and played the tunes associated with organists at hockey rink arenas.  I played snippets of Hungarian Dance #5, Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, and the tango La Cumparsita… I even played Entry of the Gladiators – normally associated with circus music.  We asked people to sign our petition, as we also offered free hockey trivia – making note that many reference questions are for sports trivia at the information desk.  We even had a family from Nevada sign the petition.  He used to be a librarian in Vancouver.

At one point a car stopped, and out popped Andrea Reimer, one of my new friends this year.  Andrea signed our petition and posed for a photograph.  Back in May, Andrea gave a talk for our VPL staff conference.  I also know her through other community contacts.  She is executive director of the Western Wilderness Committee.  I first met her back in 2002, when I helped organize Asian Heritage Month presentations to the Vancouver School Board, when she was the Green Party's first elected member at the Vancouver School Board. 

On Thursday night, I set up my accordion across from the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts.  It was the opening season of Ballet BC, and they were presenting Giselle.  Sitting across from the Centre, the sound bounces very nicely, especially if I play something like Tocatta in D Minor by Bach.  I decided to open up my repertoire of classical pieces including Tchaikovsky's Neopolitan Song from the Nutcracker Ballet, Espana by Wautefel,  and a medley of Strauss waltzes.  We had lots of smiles from people passing by

Today is Day 68 of the CUPE 391 Vancouver Library Workers strike.  We have been without a contract for 271 days…  since December 16, 2006.  While our union proposed a contract to our employer back in December, we did not receive an official offer from them until two weeks into the strike.  This was after constant stonewalling, and refusal to address employee concerns and issues.  Please see the CUPE 391 website for
more information on our issues such as pay equity, improvements for
part-time and auxiliary workers, improved language for job security,
improvements for health benefits.

Thankfully, both sides have now moved to mediation with Brian Foley, which will be non-binding.  It is similar to what he has already worked with for CUPE 15 and 1004 Vancouver City inside and outside workers.  It was back on August 1st when the Vancouver civic strike had gone into its 2nd week, that city councillor Raymond Louie called for mediation to solve the strike issues.  7 1/2 weeks later mediation with Brian Foley  finally became a reality for CUPE 15 and 1004, while CUPE 391 Library Workers went into consultation with Debra Cameron.  Foley has now taken over CUPE 391 negotiations because Cameron was not further available due to time constraints.

This weekend is also Vancouver's The Word On The Street – Book & Magazine Festival.  It traditionally takes place at Library Square, and on the adjoining streets of Hamilton and Homer St.  But this year the CBC Plaza is under construction and pickets are up at Library Square.  Our union felt that it was integral to maintain our picket lines.  It is also unfortunate that picket lines have affected Vancouver arts and cultural communities and festivals, as many events have been forced out of the Orpheum Theatre, Roundhouse and False Creek Community Centres.  Hopefully the City management will soon see the terrible toll this strike is impacting on our city, and work towards a constructive resolution.

The Library Workers will be holding a parallel event titled Word on the Strike.  Information booths, displays, puppet shows, music performances, readings and theatre skits will be set up on the picket lines to help inform the public about the Vancouver civic strike.  All the creative things that we do to inspire the Globe and Mail news story titled Library workers picket with pizzazz.  It should all combine to be one very interesting day on the picket line.

CUPE 15 “strike theatre” came to Library Square on Friday”

Friday was a busy busy day, as the CUPE 391 “strike theatre
troupe” came to visit Library Square, following our weekly Friday bbq. 
It is a form of interactive street theatre used to present ideas in an
entertaining way.  The organizer (?) asked members of the library
workers to participate.  It was fun!

At our 3:30 crew talk, it
was learned that the media blackout had been lifted, and that the city
was now calling for mediators for CUPE 15 and CUPE 1004 talks, while a
facilitator would be appointed for CUPE 391 talks.

The theatre
troupe then changed plans.  A previous plan to go perform at the Art
Gallery, was exchanged to go perform at the CBC.  I checked with them,
to find out who they would approach at CBC, and volunteered to
introduce them to some of my CBC contacts.  The group stood outside the
CBC entrance on Cambie St, while I contacted the Newsroom.  Nervous
security guards were wary of the picket signs (turned over blank), and
reporters were anxious for information as they had just heard that
talks had broken down and that mediators were being called in.

A CBC cameraman came down and met us, then filmed the theatre troupe at Library Square.

Sep 14 CUPE 15 Strike Theatre comes to Library Square