Library Union in Jackson County, OR, Gains LSSI’s Agreement To Negotiate Contract

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6532969.html?desc=topstory

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 2/16/2008

* Agreement comes after NLRB complaint
* Shelvers treated as “temps”
* Will hours be affected?

After winning the bid to operate the 15-library system in Jackson County, OR, Library Systems & Services, LLC (LSSI) will now have to negotiate with the union that formerly represented a majority of its workers. In December, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 filed an unfair labor practice complaint against LSSI with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The union’s Marc Stefan explained to LJ that when a new employer takes over from a previous entity that operated with a unionized work force, as long as a majority of the workforce is made up of people who used to be represented by the union, the union can request that the new employer bargain with the union. He estimated that about 70 percent of the current staff at Jackson County Library Services were once union workers.

Stefan thought the union had a strong case and, indeed, before NLRB ruled, LSSI agreed to negotiate with the union regarding the 65 former union workers. That doesn’t mean that the workers will regain their old compensation package. "We are confined by our contract," LSSI President Frank Pezzanite told the Mail-Tribune. "We don't have a lot of wiggle room." Library assistant Pauline Black told LJ, "I hope that, with the union back in, we will have more of an opportunity to discuss what the right working conditions are, and who should get benefits, which I would say should be all regular staff." Shelvers, she noted, "are essentially treated as sort of temp employees," with no paid time off and no benefits.

Black said that the union’s action sent an important message to county officials: "If you want quality services and quality staff, you can’t just outsource." LSSI has not previously operated in a union environment. As LJ reported in 2004, at conferences, LSSI had been distributing a 2002 article from The American Enterprise (published by a conservative think tank) that lauded LSSI's work: "For vested interests like unions, however, the company's ability efficiently to meet terms set by local officials offers no solace."