Library workers seek to join union

THE SNO-ISLE LIBRARY SYSTEM organizing committee, with the assistance of Council 2, is waging an intensive campaign to recruit 400 library system employees.

The campaign, launched in October last year, is expected to be completed in the next few months.

The Sno-Isle employees first tried to recruit the library staff into Council 2 in the early 90s.

“The employees went through the election process, but the Sno-Isle library administration ran a successful anti-union campaign to stop their employees, who then numbered about 230, from joining Council 2, and unfortunately succeeded,” says Director of Organizing Bill Keenan.

Late last year, a group of Sno-Isle employees contacted Council 2 about starting another organizing campaign.

“They had heard about our successes in the King County library system and were impressed by what had been achieved in their collective bargaining agreement.”

Now a group of Sno-Isle employees has put together a strong organizing committee. They are in the process of signing cards and visiting each library with refreshments and a table set up outside each building. There, they catch the attention of employees who are moving in and out of the building.

“They have been extremely successful in getting the cards signed,” Keenan says. “It is a long process because of the number of branches in Snohomish and Island counties. And every branch has several shifts throughout the day.

“All the library campaigns we have conducted in the past have taken nearly 12 months. We started this one in October. We are on schedule to complete the process within a year.”