The Peoria Public Library and the union representing many of its employees are headed into two days of labor mediation sessions beginning Wednesday.
Workers have been without a contract since the beginning of the year, and discussions over a new agreement have reached an impasse.
Dozens of library workers represented by AFSCME Local 3464 staged an informational picket Saturday outside the Peoria Public Library’s North Branch during the kickoff for the summer reading program.
Among the picketers was Katy Bauml, the union local’s secretary and a member of the bargaining team. She said wages are the last remaining holdup in the contract talks.
“We just haven't been able to come to an agreement that both sides feel is fair,” said Bauml, a reference assistant at the library’s Lakeview branch.
“We feel like there's more money that could be given because we've gone to a City Council meeting several months ago where they kept saying they had lots of cash. They didn't know what to do with the surplus; they mentioned surplus more than once. So, we feel like someone needs to ask the city to give us more money, because we've had a flat budget for over 10 years now that has not gone up.”
Chief union negotiator Rob Fanti said the library employees provide services that are second to none, and they're only seeking fair compensation.
“We've gotten letters of support from the public to show that the work that these people do is vital to the community and to our children, and also the surrounding universities and the hospitals, the doctors and nurses who utilize the library,” said Fanti. “The library staff, we're here to provide a service (and) we do an excellent job of it. We just want recognition and a fair wage; we want respect for what we do.”
Peoria Public Library Executive Director Randall Yelverton said he cannot comment on the status of ongoing negotiations.
“But we look forward to reaching a mutually beneficial agreement that will allow the library to continue to offer all the same excellent services and programming that our community has come to expect and enjoy,” said Yelverton.
Local 3464 president Anthony Walraven said many library workers are struggling to make ends meet.
“Basically our members are completely underpaid, across the board, across all job classifications,” said Walraven. “We have a decent number of members that are making at or around minimum wage.
“We did a survey of our members and we found that 48% of them are rent insecure, 20% of them say they require government assistance; 90% say they live paycheck to paycheck, and this has been going on for over a decade. The library's budget has been basically stagnant for 10 years.”
Walraven said Peoria’s library workers make less than those in Bloomington-Normal and other similar-sized communities.
“This is with librarians doing way more in the community than they've ever done,” he said. “This summer reading series that’s being kicked off is put on and is successful because of the work and dedication of our members.
“The outreach into the Peoria Public Schools is done with the work and dedication of our members. The senior classes, the story times, all of the different events that happen at the library, most of that programming is done by our members.”
Yelverton said the library and the union have reached amicable agreements in the past, but notes current economic conditions are not the same as they have been before.
“To take a more macro view, the library and AFSCME have enjoyed a long history of respectful and productive negotiations, and will continue to do so as we bargain the contract,” said Yelverton. “The library and its employees—– like many businesses, entities and individuals — have felt the strain of inflation and the rising cost of living in a post-pandemic world. So, we understand the strains that the community is facing, that everybody's facing.”
Walraven said while he's optimistic mediation will be productive, any recommendations that come from the process are not binding.
“The hope is that a neutral third party looking at our case and the research that we've done, and the facts that we can bring to the table is going to come to the determination that what we're asking for is within their rights,” he said. “We're hopeful that we can come to an agreement, but we've been negotiating for six months now. And our members are not asking for anything other than what they deserve.”
He said the union’s calculations indicate the library can afford the pay raises workers are seeking.
“The library system, over the last 10 years, has expanded its physical plants. There's new branches, they've renovated facilities — and that's important, and it was necessary,” he said. “They're expanding the computer labs to provide more internet access and more things for people to use at the libraries, also important. But the actual most important thing in the library in terms of providing those services to people is not new buildings, it's not computers. It's the staff that provides those services.”
He said the time has come for the library to invest in the people who make the services possible.
“That's really the core of what this is, is: Are we going to have a library system where all these wonderful services are predicated on our members living in poverty? Or are we going to have a library system that respects the work and dedication our members have put in, not just to the job but in educating themselves to provide more and better services with a living wage and dignity in the workplace?”
Bauml said the library workers just want to be appreciated and fairly compensated for their dedication.
“We're not trying to be greedy. We're not trying to get rich. We're not asking for anything crazy,” she said “Overtime and the amount of weekends we work has increased. We work holidays we didn't use to work, and now we're making less pay than years ago what these positions paid. So we're not trying to do anything crazy. We're just wanting fair and (to be) compensated for the time we're taking away from our families to work holidays and additional weekends.”
