​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!

Please find below information about the funeral services and reception for Kareem Thompson.  

Kareem was loved by patrons of all ages and coworkers across the borough. Our hearts go out to his fellow branch members at Mill Basin, and to his close friends and family.

Following meetings in January with Custodians, Special Officers, Maintainers, and IT staff, throughout February, Local 1482 reps have been meeting with union members in Librarian and Clerical titles (including TRSes). We hope you will register for one of the last (for now) lunchtime Zoom meetings next week:

https://bit.ly/Local1482Feb2024

One issue we discussed is the data breach that affected union members' personal information. By now, you should have received two pieces of mail: one letter from Delta Dental as well as an Frequently Asked Questions flyer from DC 37.  A PDF of the FAQ provided by DC37 has also been posted here on the Local 1482 website

In brief, a third-party vendor used by Delta Dental was hacked. In response, Delta was legally obligated to hire Kroll to provide members with two years of credit and identity monitoring. The service is free and will provide some insurance against the misuse of your data, including up to $1 million identity fraud loss reimbursement.

We recommend signing up! 
Visit https://enroll.krollmonitoring.com

The letter from Delta Dental includes a member number for you to use to sign up for the free service at the address above. You must enroll by May 8, 2024. If you don't have the letter, no problem, Kroll can look you up. You can call the Kroll Call Center at 800-693-2571 Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m. EST.

If the data of dependents on your account(s) was also affected (for example, of your children) you should receive separate letters with member numbers to sign them up too. Likewise, you can call Kroll for more information.

Local 1482's next General Membership is April 8th, 2024, at 7pm.  We will be joined by someone from DC 37's Health & Security Department to answer questions about the breach and to share updates about changes and improvements to our health benefits.

The results of this week's election of officers to serve on the Executive Board for the upcoming term are in.  The officers are listed below and can also be found by clicking the Executive Board link on the Local 1482 website.  Congratulations to all who won their seats, and many thanks to all who ran and offered to serve the membership and the union

On Thursday, December 7th a membership meeting will be held virtually over Zoom to provide more information about the election results and to swear in the Executive Board.  The meeting is scheduled from 7:00-9:00 pm.  The login information for the meeting is as follows: 

Zoom Link
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89318615338?pwd=rS6RBwzHc2oedDQeGJB1qZ1RCl4Ned.1

​Meeting Id: 893 1861 5338

Password: 1945

Local 1482 Election Results
President
George Olken

Librarian Vice President (Uncontested)
Rakisha Kearns White

Vice- President Clerical (Uncontested)
Ann Joseph

Blue Collar Vice President (Uncontested)
Henry Gonzalez

Treasurer (Uncontested)
Paul Otto

Recording Secretary (Uncontested)
Catherine Skryzpek

Corresponding Secretary (Uncontested)
Karen Simon

Librarian Representative (3)
Janelle Welch
Maura Johnson
Heyrling Oropeza

Clerical Representative (4)
Anthony Illiano
Kay Jordan
Lissette Hurtado
Lisa Pryce Brown

Special Officer Representative
Jose Ruiz

Maintainer Representative (Uncontested)
Haafiz Ahmed

Custodian Representative (Uncontested)
Darlene Crowder
​
Miscellaneous Representative
Tierra Blanchard

DC 37 Delegates (4)
Abigail Garnett
Alexa Orr
Ann Joseph
Janelle Welch

The December 4th General Membership Meeting of Local 1482 will be held at the Brooklyn Heights Branch starting at 7:00 pm.  The Brooklyn Heights Branch is located at 286 Cadman Plaza West.  Food and refreshments will be available.

The agenda of the meeting:

1. Approval of minutes
2. Treasurer's report
3. President's report
4. Election of officers

Election of officers to serve a three-year term (December 2023-December 2026) on the Executive Board of Local 1482 will be an in-person election and the election will be held at the December 4th meeting.  There will not be mail-in ballots. In-person voting is in accordance with the Local 1482 Constitution and has been selected by the impartial Election Committee as the means of voting for officers in this election.

All members will have received a notice mailed to their home addresses about the meeting and election.  The information imparted in the notice, including nominees, is as follows:

Following the last General Membership Meeting on October 2, 2023 nominations were accepted for all positions.  There are five positions for which elections will be held: President (1), Librarian Representatives (3), Clerical Representatives (4), Special Officer Representative (1), and Miscellaneous Representative (1).

President.  One (1) Seat
Four (4) Candidates:

• Ron Barber
• George Olken
• Dawn Marie Cassari
• Kareem Thompson

Note: This is an at-large seat.  All members, regardless of title, can vote in this category.

Librarian Representatives.  Three (3) Seats
Four (4) Candidates:

• Heidi Duffy
• Janelle Welch
• Maura Johnson
• Heyrling Oropeza

Note: Only members working in librarian titles can vote in this category.

Clerical Representatives.  Four (4) Seats
Six (6) Candidates:

• Anthony Illiano
• Joanna Sanford
• Kay Jordan-Wilkes
• Lissette Hurtado
• Lisa Pryce-Brown
• Jessica Carlo

Note: Only members working in clerical titles can vote in this category.

Special Officer Representative.  One (1) Seat
Three (3) Candidates:

• Jose Ruiz
• Kenneth Chandler
• Valerie King

Note: Only members working as special officers can vote in this category.

Miscellaneous Representative.  One (1) Seat
Two (2) Candidates:

• Tierra Blanchard
• David Jules

Note: Only members who do not have a listed representative can vote in this category (e.g. IT titles)

In the following positions, only one individual was nominated and has therefore been elected uncontested:

• Vice President Librarian (Rakisha Kearns-White)
• Vice President Clerical (Ann Joseph)
• Vice President Blue Collar (Henry Gonzalez)
• Treasurer (Paul Otto)
• Recording Secretary (Catherine Skrzypek)
• Corresponding Secretary (Karen Simon)
• Maintainer Representative (1) (Haafiz Ahmad)
• Custodian Representative (1) (Darlene Crowder)
• DC37 Delegates (4) (Abigail Garnett, Alexa Orr, Ann Joseph, Janelle Welch)

PLEASE NOTE: Any questions or concerns about the elections process can be directed to the Local 1482 Elections Committee, [email protected].  

Local 1482 will hold a special meeting for members to discuss THI and share recommendations for remote work.  It will be held virtually over Zoom on Friday, October 20th at 7pm.  

President Ron Barber emailed a notice about the meeting last week via BPL email that included the Zoom login for the meeting.  Local 1482 members who would like to have the Zoom login emailed to their personal email accounts are invited to fill out this registration form.  The login will be emailed to those who submit the form the evening of Thursday, October 19th.  For anyone who submits the form later on October 19th, or before 5 pm on October 20th, the login information will be emailed at 5 pm on October 20th.

Thank you for your interest in continuing to discuss these topics that have an ongoing impact on the members of our Local.  

The first General Membership Meeting of 2023-24 will be held on Monday, October 2 at 7:00 pm.  It will be an in-person meeting and will be held at the Park Slope Branch located at 431 6th Avenue.

Light refreshments will be served.

At this meeting nominations will be taken for all offices to serve on the Executive Board for the term that runs from December 2023 to December 2026.  These offices are:

• President
• Librarian Vice President
• Clerical Vice President
• Blue Collar Vice President
• Treasurer
• Recording Secretary
• Corresponding Secretary
• 11 Representatives as follows:
  • Three (3) Librarian Representatives
  • Four (4) Clerical Representatives
  • One (1) Maintainer Representative
  • One (1) Custodian Representative
  • One (1) Special Officer Representative
  • One (1) Miscellaneous Representative
• Five (5) Delegates to DC37

The rules for nominations and elections are outlined in Article VII of the Local 1482 Constitution.  The roles of Executive Board Officers are outlined in Article VIII of the constitution.

​A PDF of all Local 1482 meetings in 2023 and 2024 is located here.  Please print it out and post it on the union bulletin boards in your work locations.

For the first time since 2019, Local 1482 will hold its annual picnic in person.  Join us at Prospect Park on Sunday, June 11th, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.  The festivities will take place at the Picnic House North area, which is a short walk from the park entrance located at Prospect Park West and 5th Street.

The theme of the picnic is Summer of Reflection.  As at previous picnics, there will be food, games, prizes, and activities for kids.  Bring your families and spend an afternoon hanging out and having fun with your friends and fellow members of Local 1482!