Picket lines could go up in front of Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) branches as early as 8 AM Thursday.   

The BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) served the Vancouver Island Regional Library board with 72-hour strike notice on Monday. 

“Once Thursday morning comes along that we have 90 days in which we need to action that strike, and job action can take a lot of different forms. It can be everything from an overtime ban or work to rule, which is basically you do exactly what’s in your job description, nothing above,  and/or, taking full job action,” explained Stephanie Smith, President of the BCGEU.

“At this point our goal is to get a collective agreement. It’s not to go on strike. And so the 72 hours is a window of opportunity for the employer to come back to invite us back to the table. If they are serious about getting a collective agreement and we’re open to do that, we’re calling on board members to please encourage their representatives to get back to the bargaining table and to get a collective agreement that our members deserve.”

The 48 Librarians working in 39 branches on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, Cortes and Quadra Islands, Bella Coola and Haida Gwaii have not had a collective agreement with Vancouver Island Regional Library since December 2020. 

Negotiations only began in September 2021 and broke down last month.

Smith said there are two key issues:

“We’re seeing 40 year highs in rates of inflation and we just learned that the bank of Canada is going to be increasing interest rates. Our members are falling behind when it comes to cost of living. MLA’s have their wage increases tied through legislation to protect inflation, and we believe that all working people should have the same.”

“Over the last two years,  the pandemic has been very, very challenging for many working people. We represent thousands of BCGEU members who remained right on the front lines, providing vital services for communities and people sometimes don’t react well to additional stresses.  We’ve seen lots of incidences of people reacting very strongly to mask mandates for example, or being asked to socially distance.” 

” … We have felt that our members concerns around their safety, weren’t being listened to seriously by the employer and the additional stresses have really raised the issues of mental health in the workplace to the forefront.”

46 of the 48 librarians voted in favour of job action. 

CUPE Local 401, whose members work at more than half the librairies, issued a press release stating, quote “In the event of a work stoppage, it is our expectation that no CUPE member will cross a BCGEU picket line. This includes members working at home. If your regular place of work is being picketed, you should not be working.”

CUPE members will be issued buttons saying, ‘I Support Librarians.’  

Vancouver Island Regional Library’s 2022 operating budget is $31 million, 95% of which are fixed costs and 65% of those are wages and benefits. 

Library management stated, “We regret that VIRL’s service delivery will be impacted, though precise impacts remain unclear at this time. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and commit to continuing constructive efforts towards bargaining resolution with our valued colleagues.”

Smith maintains it is time for the board of trustees, which governs the Vancouver Island Regional Library, to get involved.

“They have a responsibility to the people who elected them. We really do want to maintain this community resource for the people we serve in the communities, and we know the board feels the same way. Well, then they need to tell their representatives that they hired to do this bargaining with our membership, to get back to the table and to get an agreement that recognizes the contribution of our member,” she said.

The board is made up of elected representatives from 28 municipalities and 10 regional districts, including the Strathcona Regional District.

This broadcast was originally March 2 and the interview with Stephanie Smith added in time for the March 3 broadcast.

This post was originally published on March 3 and republished March 5 for the Saturday Round-up.

Top image credit:  In the stacks by LeAnn Weishaar via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

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