Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017 ULW recommends

Happy New Year to union activists from Union Library Worker!  Recommended acquisition for 2017 for all library collections the 2nd edition of Troublemaker's Handbook from the folks at Labor Notes (you ought to subscribe to it as well).   Support and inspire the social/workplace/environmental justice activists in your community!

http://www.labornotes.org/store/troublemakers-handbook-2

2015 Union Review Available Online

The latest annual union review, "'A Seat at the Table': 2015 Union Review", based on posts on this blog, was recently published in issue 44 of Progressive Librarian.

A Portrait of Failure - Union Report on Australia's Cultural Institutions

Australia's Community and Public Sector Union has released a report detailing the effects of budget cuts on libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions. The full report, titled "A Portrait of Failure: Ongoing Funding Cuts to Australia's Cultural Institutions", can be viewed on the union's website. The budget cuts have negatively impacted digitization projects, staffing levels, opening hours, and exhibitions. In the accompanying press release, the deputy secretary of the union said:

“The people who work in these institutions are dedicated to carefully searching out, preserving, nurturing and displaying the very best of us. Whether it is our fine art or our comic relief, our iconic films or our oral history, our war memories or our family ancestry, we all need our cultural institutions to continue preserving our past and protecting our cultural heritage.”

New Publication: The Role of the Union in Promoting Social Justice

Perspectives on Libraries as Institutions of Human Rights and Social Justice, edited by Ursula Gorham, Natalie Greene Taylor, and Paul Jaeger, has recently been published by Emerald as part of the Advances in Librarianship series. It includes a chapter titled "The Role of the Union in Promoting Social Justice" by Sarah Barriage that draws from the news items included in this blog.

"The Privatization Beast" at Kern County Public Libraries

Administration at Kern County Public Libraries in California have been in talks with Library Systems & Services LLC to take over running their libraries. Part of the company's proposed plan is to reduce employee costs by eliminating the union, reducing contributions to pension plans, and relying on volunteer workers for some of the tasks currently completed by library staff.

Yesterday at Beale Memorial Library, one of the library system's locations, a reading was held of "The Privatization Beast", a story about a beast who eats libraries.

New Book Published on Academic Librarian Labour Activism

In Solidarity: Academic Librarian Labour Activism and Union Participation in Canada, edited by  Jennifer Dekker and Mary Kandiuk, has been published by Library Juice Press. From the LJP website:

With a focus on Canada, this collection provides a historical and current perspective regarding the unionization of academic librarians, an exploration of some of the major labour issues affecting academic librarians in a certified and non-certified union context, as well as case studies relating to the unionization of academic librarians at selected institutions. Topics addressed include the history of academic librarian labour organizing in Canada, academic status, academic freedom, leadership in academic staff associations, collective bargaining, and recent attacks on the rights and occupational interests of academic librarians at Canadian universities. The volume includes a broad representation of academic librarian labour activists from across Canada. Little in the way of documentation exists on academic librarian union activism and participation in Canada and this work will contribute to original research in this area. Serving as both history and handbook it will be of interest to librarians and labour historians alike.

2013 Union Review Published

"'The Union Can't Sit Idly By': 2013 Union Review", a yearly review of union activity in the information sector based on this blog, has been published in the latest issue of Progressive Librarian. The table of contents for the issue can be viewed at the Progressive Librarians Guild website. Full text of the issue can be accessed through Library Literature database.

NCSCBHEP Publications

The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy has recently issued its fourth volume. The theme for this volume is "Academic Collective Bargaining Under Siege". The journal is an open access publication of The National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions (NCSCBHEP).

The NCSCBHEP also issues The Directory of Faculty Contracts and Bargaining Agents on a bi-annual basis, with the latest edition being published in September 2012. The Directory provides faculty and graduate student collective bargaining information from universities across the United States.