Bargaining Blog 5.19.26

 On Tuesday May 19, we had our third bargaining session with management. While we made significant movement towards agreement on some proposals, we continue to disagree on others.

We are still working on the non-economic proposals presented during our first and second bargaining sessions. In this session, we had multiple counterproposals to present on management rights, stewards, artificial intelligence, discipline, and open positions. Management rights include adding titles to the list of represented workers covered by the contract and defining who can do bargaining unit work and when. We are still redeveloping our proposals on equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination and will counter at our next session, on June 4.

After our initial presentation, each side went into caucus for a very, very long time…

Half an hour before bargaining was due to end, management returned and hastily presented their counterproposals. They countered on flexible work strategies, open positions, and discipline. While they rejected our artificial intelligence proposal yet again, they made their own proposal regarding provision of training when applications utilizing artificial intelligence are adopted by the library. They rejected our other counter proposals. In most cases, their argument is that the contract is working well enough in these areas as is, and they see no reason for change.

Your bargaining committee will be deliberating on our next move regarding these counters for our next session. Regardless of whether we are finished with non-economic proposals, we will soon move on to our economic proposals. We will be asking for your help during these sessions, as the going always gets tough when money is involved! 

As ever we encourage you to show support for our union by wearing buttons and changing Zoom backgrounds to our logo! Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with the latest updates. Reach out to us with questions or ideas through social media, email (nullabororganization@gmail.com), or by contacting a bargaining committee member.

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