Unionized workers at Essex County's 14 library branches are on strike.
The walkout comes after Saturday's 12:01am strike deadline came and went without a new agreement in place.
Local 2974 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesperson Lori Wightman says it's incredibly disappointing.
"This is the last thing the workers wanted," says Wightman. "It's the last thing the community wanted. We want to be out there serving the community. The community made it abundantly clear to us yesterday when we were on the jab that they were with us, they would miss us, they didn't want us to close."
The union represents 58 frontline staff. Mediated talks ended Wednesday night with the union saying the two sides were no closer to a deal than they had been prior to the talks. Since then, Wightman says there were no new discussions.
"We were willing to talk. We were ready, willing, and able to go anywhere for however long it took to work out a deal and we heard nothing from them," she says.
Wightman says workers will be on the picket lines at 10am Saturday. As far as she is aware, the library branches will be closed.
In fact, she claims workers couldn't access the branches even if they weren't on strike.
"The only thing that happened (overnight) and any great import was they changed the locks on all the branches," she says of library management.
Wightman says a strike by the 58 library workers threatens a lot of summer programs at the library.
“We have, I believe it’s 300 programs planned for the summer,” she says. “From family story, time to adult book clubs and those are all in jeopardy right now.”
-With files from Adelle Loiselle