Other Library Union News

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2006 SLA Salary Survey & Workplace Study includes Salary Distribution by Union v. Non-union.

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 February 14, 2007.

Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME Local 2910, needs your help.

 

Dear Friend of the Library of Congress,

 

We are sending you this message because the Library of Congress Professional Guild, AFSCME Local 2910, needs your help.

 

For over thirty years our union has worked with management to forge a constructive relationship at the Library of Congress. Together we have built a modern and progressive workplace committed to the highest principles of librarianship. Everybody has gained, including the public we serve.

 

Today, the Library of Congress has chosen to betray that relationship.

Through its Office of Workforce Management, the Library has struck at the very heart of the Guild by seeking to put union representatives on enforced leave or Leave Without Pay until we provide confidential information about our Guild representational activities.

 

The Library wants us to change the way we submit our bi-weekly reports to management by forcing us to describe specifics of conversations held with employees in the Guild office. If we were to submit to this demand, we would undermine the confidentiality of employees and impair our ability to represent our colleagues at the Library of Congress.

 

Guild officers and stewards always account for our use of official time for representational activity but we object to demands that go beyond the reporting practices of our federal union colleagues in the Executive Branch. Under the guise of "accountability" the Office of Workforce Management is attempting to chill communications with employees, curtail official time for Guild representatives, and restrict the Guild's ability to develop and implement progressive policies and practices at the Library of Congress. Furthermore, efforts by management to coerce union officials by docking their pay is considered by many to be union-busting.

 

These actions should have no place at the Library of Congress, or in any workplace in America. Please visit our website at www.guild2910.org and read about our efforts to preserve representational rights at the Library of Congress.

 

We urge you to express your concern by signing the statement below:

 

Dear Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress:

 

As the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and as the research

arm of the U.S. Congress, the Library of Congress should embody the values

of pluralism and democracy. Employees who participate in labor

organizations, or who -- as officers or stewards -- assist their

colleagues in the workplace, should have the right to do so without fear

of penalty or reprisal.

 

_________________________________________________Signature

 

Send to:

 

Library of Congress Professional Guild www.guild2910.org

LM G-41, Mailstop 9994 guild@loc.gov

Washington, DC 20540

FAX 202-707-1873

 

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Please cut and paste this statement and send it to our email address. You

may also fax it us or send us a letter.

 

And if you visit our website we invite you to read 2 essays by our members:

 

"More on What is Going on at the Library of Congress," by Thomas Mann,

January 1, 2007," and

 

"Eliminating Series Authority Records and Series Title Control: Improving," by Gary M. Johnson, January 11,

2007."

 

On behalf of our executive board and stewards, we thank you for your support,

 

Saul Schniderman, Cataloger

Guild President

 

Melinda Friend, Archivist

Guild Chief Steward

 

The Library of Congress Professional Guild

AFSCME Local 2910

Mail stop 9994

Room No. LM G-41

Library of Congress

101 Independence Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20540

www.guild2910.org

guild@loc.gov

(202) 707-6493/1304

Fax: (202) 707-1873

"Opinions expressed are those of the authors, and are not official

statements by the Library of Congress."