Doing the Work: Unions, Coalitions, and Front-line Library Workers. (ALA Conference Program)

 Doing the Work: Unions, Coalitions, and Front-line Library Workers. The ALA-APA Salaries and Status of Library Workers (SSLW) committee will host this lively discussion on Sunday, June 25, 2023, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m., during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. You’re welcome to join library workers from across the nation in a discussion on their fight for fair wages and treatment through unionization, organizing, and coalition building. Bring your questions and come prepared to learn how to take action in your workplace.

 

Panelists include:

 

Alexis Ahiagbe, Director of Volunteer Services at the Free Library of Philadelphia and a delegate and trustee in AFSCME District Council 47 Local 2186

 

Elissa C. Cadillic, Training Coordinator and President of AFSCME 1526, Boston Public Library Employees Union

 

Angela M. Jones, a Social Worker who coordinates opportunities for families at Skokie Public Library. She was a member of the organizing committee for the Skokie public library union (SEIU Local 73), and a member of the bargaining committee who successfully negotiated the library union’s first contract.

 

Meredith Kahn, a Librarian at the University of Michigan and an elected leader of a bargaining unit for librarians, archivists, and curators. They are a founding member of their union’s organizing committee and served on the bargaining team for their union’s first contract.

 

Facilitator: Andrea Lemoins; Instruction Librarian, Culinary Literacy Center, Free Library of Philadelphia and Chair of the ALA-APA Salaries and Status of Library Workers Committee

 

Resources

 

-- Organizing Rights (for employers)

-- Department of Labor: Know Your Rights (short videos for workers)

from ALA-APA Newsletter, May 2023:

Volume 20, No. 5 • May 2023 – Library Worklife: (ala-apa.org)