Victoria, BC, Library Workers Escalate Strike
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 10/22/2007
Unionized workers at the Greater Victoria Public Library, BC, have been conducting a variety of strike actions since early September, and today are concluding a three-day shutdown of the nine-branch systems. The workers went out on strike on October 20, citing the 134th birthday of women's rights activist Nellie McClung, active in Western Canada in the early 20th Century.
"If Nellie were alive today and saw how the City of Victoria treats its library workers, most of whom are women, she would raise bloody hell," said CUPE 410 president Ed Seedhouse in a news release. One GVPL branch is named for McClung. As part of the job action, circulation staff are not accepting payments from customers for overdue fines until further notice. Also, workers have shut down public Internet terminals. Union officials say that local politicians who control the library’s budget have refused to “deliver on a promise” made in 1996 to achieve pay with other municipal workers.
