Vancouver PL Strike Settled

After modifications were made to the deal they overwhelmingly disapproved in early October, more than 71 percent of 775 striking Vancouver Public Library (VPL), BC, staff voted October 19 in favor of a new contract, nearly three months after they walked off the job on July 26 (see News, LJ 9/1/07, p. 16).

Library staff were back at work on October 22, with the facilities scheduled to reopen on October 24. “We are going back knowing we have made important advances toward the long-term goal of achieving pay equity,” said CUPE Local 391 president Alex Youngberg.

Some workers were bumped up a pay grade, but the union's bargaining committee acknowledged that “more than half of our membership have not had this work fully recognized in this new collective agreement.”

The contract involves a 17.5 percent increase over five years, similar to that accepted by two other groups of striking Vancouver municipal workers a week earlier.

The union maintained that pay inequity exists between the mostly female library work force and the mostly male municipal work force and argued for improved rights for part-time and auxiliary workers.

A week before the settlement, city librarian Paul Whitney contended that a city analysis shows pay equity is not a factor in city salaries. The agreement sets up a joint committee on job classifications to address such concerns.