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COUNCIL 2's SUSAN VELTFORT, president of Local 1857 (the King County Library System employees), has received one of the most prestigious awards in the Washington state labor movement.
Called the “Mother Jones Award,” the award is given to a union member who is recognized as playing a major role in advancing the struggle for dignity and respect for working men and women in Washington State. The award is named after Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, a legendary organizer for the United Mineworkers of America, who organized anthracite coal miners at the turn of the 20th Century.
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, selects the recipient from 350,000 union members in the state.
Veltfort is the first Council 2 member to win the award, presented over the last 13 years.
She was recognized for her courage and dedication to library workers within the King County library system and statewide over the last four years.
Veltfort was a prime mover in organizing Washington State’s largest public library system — the King County Library System — in 2003, said Cameron Johnson, a library worker and Local 113 member, who nominated her for the award.
“Several past organizing drives had failed in the system, whose management was virulently opposed to unionization,” Johnson said in his nomination. “She was on the negotiations committee when Local 1857 negotiated its first-ever labor agreement in 2004.
“Soon afterward the library management delivered a shock: A wrong-headed staffing model called ‘clustering,’ which forced many employees to rotate among several worksites each week.” Veltfort was a key player in helping to organize a no-confidence vote among members in which about 92 percent registered no confidence in the library director.
“The vote brought media attention, which brought management to the table, where it has since made major concessions on the issue,” Johnson added.
Veltfort is also a founding member of IGLU, the Interest Group for Libraries and Unions, within the Washington Library Association, the state’s premier organization for library workers.
