Striking library workers in Essex County attend the regular meeting of Essex County Council on October 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)Striking library workers in Essex County attend the regular meeting of Essex County Council on October 19, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)
Windsor

County Library Talks Break Down

The strike for Essex County library workers continues after the latest round of talks broke down, but they still may be asked to vote on the offer rejected by the bargaining team.

According to Richard Meloche, the chair of the Essex County Library Board, a supervised vote will be requested which will give the offer directly to those people picketing.

"Do they want to continue in the same fashion that they are right now or do they want to see what we're offering and make a decision from there?" says Meloche.

CUPE Local 2974 represents the 58 striking library workers and spokesperson Lori Wightman isn't afraid of her members seeing every line of the latest offer.

"Our membership has sent us a clear message," says Wightman. "We would welcome a vote."

Lori Wightman of CUPE Local 2974. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza) Lori Wightman of CUPE Local 2974. (Photo by Ricardo Veneza)

Meloche says a request to the ministry for a supervised vote hasn't been made yet, but could be made as early as Monday. The vote would likely happen within a couple of weeks after approval.

The union bargaining team rejected the deal — described as the "best and final offer" by the library board — because it kept in a revision to the sick plan to include a third-party insurer for short-term disability.

"We're not really understanding why, with five managers, are they not capable of dealing with 58 employees who both sides say don't overuse or abuse sick time, which I would assume also includes short-term disability," says Wightman.

Meloche says moving to a third-party insurer would save the county money in the long-term, projected at about $500,000 a year as more of its unionized workers shift to the plan and would also give employees more privacy in filing for short-term disability by removing the need to go through a manager at work.

"There's more predictability with it, you have a set cost every year rather than swings year to year," says Meloche, adding third-party insurers are used at many workplaces including the big three automakers in the city and Caesars Windsor.

The library board offered pay raises and signing bonuses in its latest offer while the union actually countered with a four-year wage freeze if it meant removing the third-party insurer revision.

The latest break down didn't prompt either side to commit to arbitration as a solution, only recognizing it as a possibility.

Wightman doesn't seem to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel at this point when it comes to the strike.

"I don't know how talks could resume," says Wightman. "I don't know what more we can give them."

In a statement, the library board addressed those affected by the labour disruption.

“This has been a difficult past few months for all of us," says Meloche. “We want to thank our patrons and our residents for their patience and understanding over the past several weeks."

The library workers have been on strike since June 25.

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