Last month our delegates attended the AFSCME Convention in Los Angeles. We will have a full report at our Local General Membership Meeting on Monday October 7th at 7pm on Zoom (postcard in the mail).
One function of the Convention is to vote on resolutions. These are policy and value statements created by members that will shape the International Union's priorities over the next two years. This year, many resolutions focused on the upcoming Presidential Election: Democratic VP Candidate Tim Walz spoke in-person at the Convention and Kamala Harris sent a video message. Here are a complete list of the resolutions that the delegate body voted to pass: AFSCME Convention Resolutions 2024 Two of the resolutions that did not pass addressed Israel-Palestine and Union Democracy, respectively. The first failed resolution called for the union to take a more forceful stand regarding Israel, including asking AFSCME to join other unions to pressure the Biden Administration to end U.S. Military Aid to Israel. The second failed resolution called for a one-member-one-vote system for choosing our top union leadership. Currently, delegates vote as representatives of the rank-and-file and they re-elected AFSCME President Lee Saunders and Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride, who both ran unopposed. You can read more about these efforts in The Chief: AFSCME activists' reform push falls short On June 24, 2024, after thoughtful debate members of Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482 voted 34 to 16 (with 4 abstaining) to adopt the following motion:
Local 1482 will defend Brooklyn Public Library workers who are perceived to support Palestinian liberation in their personal expression and/or during workplace activities. We protect BPL workers from retaliation for expressing and acting on their commitment, aligned with the professed social justice values of DC 37, AFSCME and ALA, to fight for a more just and equitable world. This statement will be posted on the Local's website and distributed to the membership in whatever way the Executive Board sees fit. There is a General Membership Meeting for Local 1482 scheduled tonight, Monday, June 3rd at 7:00 pm. It will be held virtually over Zoom. The agenda and login information is found below. Apologies if you are receiving this information on Tuesday morning via an email update. We understand it is out-of-date, and we look forward to your being able to participate in future meetings and actions:
General Membership Meeting Monday, June 3, 2024 7:00 pm This meeting will be held virtually on Zoom. The meeting agenda and login information is found below: Local 1482 Brooklyn Library Guild GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AGENDA 1. Guest Presentations - Danny Tovar - DC 37 Housing Unit - Juan Fernandez - Local 154 2. Open Forum 3. Minutes 4. Treasurer’s Report 5. President’s Report 6. New Business Join Zoom Meeting: bit.ly/Local1482June2024 Or dial in: 929-205-6099 (NY) Meeting ID: 815 3526 4938 Passcode: 234251 Below is information about the memorial services for union member Camille N. Francis. Our hearts are broken at her loss. Please send blessings and strength to her coworkers at Paerdegat Branch, to her friends across the library, and to her family.
Services Guarino Funeral Home, 9222 Flatlands Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11236 Date: Friday, May 31, 2024, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Repast Grace Reform Church 1800 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225 Following the service Burial Rosehill Cemetery Linden, NJ Date: Saturday, June 1, 2024, Donations and expressions of sympathy mailed to: Renee Francis 83 Kenilworth Place Brooklyn, NY 11210 Expressions of sympathy may be mailed to: Coleen Grant 1352 E 105 St Brooklyn NY 11236 Local 1482 Vice President for Librarians Rakisha Kearns-White is on the advisory team for a research project being conducted by the University of South Carolina’s School of Information and Communications. The Public Library Routines Project (PLRP), aims to uncover problematic routines in public libraries and learn how they impact staff; find out how staff cope with these routines; and discover successful workarounds that would become the basis of professional development workshops for public library administrations.
Members of the PLRP advisory team are inviting public library staff from across the country to participate in our research of routine work. If you work in a public library in any capacity (librarians, custodians, clerical, safety officers, maintainers, TRS, IT, etc.) and you are from a group that is underrepresented in the profession (e.g., staff of color, LGBTQIA+ staff, staff with disabilities, staff with chronic conditions, and staff with mental health challenges), we especially want to hear from you. READ MORE Here's the 411: What’s a Routine? Routine work is. . . well . . . routine! These are the things you do regularly, and you do it mostly the same way each time. This might include shelving, processing holds, programming, working the reference desk, assisting patrons with technology or HR paperwork. What’s wrong with Routines? While there is nothing inherently wrong with routines, this work might introduce barriers that are particularly problematic for staff with certain identities, e.g., staff of color, LGBTQIA+ staff, staff with disabilities or chronic conditions, staff with mental health challenges. As the routine is repeated and becomes more familiar, it can easily hide and “normalize” these barriers. What is PLRP? PLRP is a 3-year IMLS-funded research project that looks at these problematic routines, what library staff do to work around them, and what libraries can do to better support staff efforts. What will you do? You will be asked to keep an audio diary of your experiences in routine work and sit for a 45-minute interview. Everything will be done virtually. Will anyone know that I participated? Your participation in this research study is entirely confidential. This means that no one outside of the project team will know that you participated. In published project documents, we will remove your name and any information that could potentially link you to your participation in the study. What do I get out of it? There are no direct benefits to you, but you will receive a $30 gift card at the conclusion of the study. What if I change my mind? You are free to leave the study at any point and receive a prorated gift card. I’m interested. What now? Complete THIS FORM to indicate your interest in participating in the study and complete a brief demographics survey. This survey will be used to screen participants and ensure a diverse sample. If you are selected to participate, the next step is a 25-minute virtual meeting with the project team that will further explain your involvement and answer any questions you may have. A project team member will contact you if you are selected to participate. Check out the project WEBSITE HERE. For questions, contact the PI, Darin Freeburg ([email protected]). If the people can't go to the library on a Sunday, the library must go to the people!
Join community members for a family-friendly storytime outside of the Brooklyn Public Central Library. Before budget cuts in 2023 forced Sunday closures, libraries in every borough hosted Sunday storytime every weekend. Like community groups across the city, we'll be making up for the social services cut by Mayor Adams, hosting storytime and craft activities, and writing letters to Adams to call on him to fully restore the library budget. REGISTER HERE We are taking this opportunity to share two pieces of news with our members.
City Library Unions Speak Out Against Budget Cuts The Chief, a New York based newspaper that focuses on municipal workers, recently published an article that addresses the impact the Mayor's proposed budget cuts will have on staffing and maintaining services. Titled Cuts Could Trim Libraries' Saturday Service, the article notes that if enacted, the cut will eliminate Saturday service at at number of locations and will force the libraries to continue not hiring to fill vacancies. The presidents of the three library local unions were interviewed in the article, including President George Sarah Olken of Local 1482. President Olken spoke about the consequences being closed on Sundays has already had on library workers and library users. Also interviewed was Lauren Comito, a member of Local 1482 and the executive director of Urban Librarians Unite. DC37 to Temporarily Move Headquarters DC 37 has announced that effective May 20th, its headquarters will move from 55 Water Street to a temporary service center located at 420 W 45th Street in Manhattan. In the Fall, DC37 will re-open at 125 Barclay St in a new state-of-the-art facility. Also on May 20th, the Audiology Center will resume operations at the DC37 Health Center located at 115 Chambers Street. Please look here for hours for the temporary service center, as well as phone contact information. Dear Library Workers,
Please join us anytime from 11 AM to 2:30 PM on April 28th for a city-wide day of canvassing to Keep NYC Libraries open. Organized by library unions and Urban Librarian Unite, we'll be speaking with neighbors, defending universal 6-day service, and advocating to keep our libraries fully, safely staffed. If city budget cuts are not restored, some libraries will lose even Saturday services, which workers will be reassigned to cover for understaffing across the system. Communities with closed branches miss their beloved library workers. Together we can fight back! You can join library workers from all three systems at any of these three branches: Bedford in Brooklyn, Melrose in the Bronx, or Broadway in Queens. RSVP here! |
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