Cumberland — CUMBERLAND — The Allegany County Library System has joined the fight against legislation that would allow library workers to choose collective bargaining.
The legislative request is being driven by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1994. House Bill 881 has at least 45 co-sponsors and Senate Bill 225 has the committed support of at least 13 lawmakers. Not one of the four members of the District 1 delegation to Annapolis appears as a co-sponsor of the legislation.
UFCW Local 1994 represents library system employees in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. Library employees in the rest of Maryland cannot elect to have union representation. In a news release, supporters of the bill denounced local library systems’ use of what they called “taxpayer funds” to hire Alexander and Cleaver, a lobbying firm, to help derail the legislation.
John Taube, director of the Allegany County Library System, said the lobbying firm is paid through the Maryland Association of Public Library Administrators. The organization voted to hire the firm “on a government relations initiative” before the bill was introduced and with dues already paid by local library systems, including Allegany County’s.
Taube said Alexander and Cleaver was hired “so that we could learn from their experience how to better get our message to the people that needed to hear it” in Annapolis.
Library administrators across the state, Taube said, aren’t necessarily against union representation for system employees. They believe, however, that any such initiative should be driven by those employees instead of the union.
“The other bit is, in Allegany County, we have regular staff meetings,” Taube said. “We have an open-door policy on any issue.”
He said that, along with himself, administrators Lisa McKenney and Jennifer Spriggs have made “a very valiant effort” to improve communication with staff.
“The library system is nothing without its staff,” Taube said. “We wanted to reduce whatever perceived or actual barriers” staff might feel are in place.
In addition, Taube said, staff has elected an ombudsman “so if there’s any concern about uncomfortableness about raising a concern or a point of contention ... they can go to their ombudsman.”
That position is filled by Frostburg branch manager Patricia Merrbach, who declined to comment for this story.
In discussions with county library employees, Taube said some have expressed concern about paying weekly dues of $10.
“Are they going to get their return on that $520 a year?” Taube asked.
The union promises increased wages, Taube said, but even as library systems negotiate in good faith, “if the county and state don’t have funds to (pay for raises), there’s no guarantee UFCW can deliver on that.”
“In year three of a state and national economic downturn, I think the potential for pay increases is slight,” Taube said. “But at the same time, if we need to maintain our working staff ... and if there’s a hard line that wages have to go up ... it would make it very difficult to avoid furlough days and things like that.”
The Allegany County Library System has approximately 32 full-time employees and about 10 substitute, or part time, workers.
Kevin Spradlin can be reached at kspradlin@times-news.com.
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