A standoff between unionized librarians and the Vancouver Island Regional Library continues, as each side waits for the other to make the first move in their dispute over a new contract.
No talks were scheduled as of Tuesday, when B.C. General Employees Union members set up pickets at the Sidney-North Saanich branch on Resthaven Drive.
That branch remained closed Tuesday as library employees represented by the BCGEU and Canadian Union of Public Employees, which is respecting the picket line, stood on the sidewalk holding large yellow flags. Frequent honks in support were heard from vehicles passing by. About 15 union members were on the picket line shortly after 9 a.m.
The one-day job action followed picketing at the Ladysmith branch on Monday and the Cowichan and Nanaimo branches last week. The library system runs from Sooke to Sidney and north on Vancouver Island to Port Hardy, and includes coastal B.C. and Haida Gwaii.
Close to 50 librarians working for the 39-branch system have been without a collective agreement since December 2020. A mediator has been brought in.
BCGEU president Stephanie Smith, who was on the picket line Tuesday, said the goal of the rotating pickets is to bring the employer back to the negotiating table with a “reasonable offer.”
If that doesn’t happen, job action will likely escalate, she said. “Instead of rotating picket strikes, we may be looking at a system-wide [job action].”
Details of the union position are confidential, but Smith said the outstanding issue is wages in a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing. “Vancouver Island regional librarians do earn less than other librarians and other library systems. But really, this is about inflation protections and cost of living adjustments that recognize that it is expensive to live.”
The union countered an offer from the employer but has not heard back, she said.
Employer spokesman David Carson said the VIRL rejected the union’s counter-proposal based on its wage expectations, and is “standing by” for a revised counter-proposal.
The VIRL’s latest proposal to the union, presented March 1, included total compensation for librarians beyond the sector average and beyond the levels the union sought during the last round of bargaining, he said. “This offer has remained on the table since it was first proposed.”
“Unlike many other primarily urban library systems, 80 per cent of the communities VIRL serves are rural coastal communities, grappling with post-pandemic economic recovery. An agreement must be sustainable for all the communities we serve.”
As a regional library system, VIRL is funded by a pooled system where all member municipalities and regional districts contribute based on a formula in the Library Act, Carson said.
Approximately 90 per cent of the system’s funding comes from these levies.
In 2022, VIRL’s total operating budget was a little more than $31 million.
