Plans to Close 54 Newfoundland Libraries Suspended

Dale Kirby, education minister of Newfoundland and Labrador, has announced that the planned closure of 54 library branches in that province has been suspended until an external review is completed. According to Kirby, public concern over the plans to close rural library branches and lay off library employees has prompted the suspension. CUPE Local 2329, the union representing Newfoundland's public library workers, has held information pickets, ran TV ads, and encouraged members of the community to make their opposition to the planned closures heard.

Information Pickets at Newfoundland Libraries

Library workers in Newfoundland held information pickets across the province yesterday in order to make their communities aware of upcoming planned location closures. Fifty-four libraries in Newfoundland are set to close over the next two years, resulting in the loss of sixty jobs. The library workers are represented by CUPE Local 2329.

VIDEO: CUPE Launches TV Ad Campaign in Newfoundland & Labrador

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, the union that represents library workers in Newfoundland and Labrador, will be launching a TV campaign next week to protest the recently announced decision to close 54 of the province's libraries. 

While the province maintains that the closures and resulting lay-offs are necessary due to budget cuts, one of the CUPE ads contrasts the anticipated $1 million in savings with the $1.4 million in severance the province will be paying a former CEO of Nalcor, a provincial energy corporation.

A map of the libraries that are currently scheduled to close over the next two years can be viewed here. Contact information for the province's education minister as well as a template email protesting the closures are available via the Newfoundland and Labrador Library Association website. 

Accusation of Union Busting in Newfoundland

The Canadian Union of Public Employees has accused the government of Newfoundland and Labrador of union busting in response to recently announced changes to library services. Fifty-four of the provinces' public library branches are slated to close over the next two years, resulting in sixty employees losing their jobs. The education minister recently announced that volunteers and student workers may be asked to staff school libraries during the evenings in order to provide some services to the communities left without a public library branch. Dawn Lahey, head of CUPE Local 2329, said: 

What a slap in the face to someone. Not only union busting, but it's a slap in the face to someone who's given their life to that library.