[URBAN NOTE] Torontoist and Rabble.ca on the upcoming Toronto library strike

[rfmcdonald]

First is Torontoist's Tamara Yelland, "Library Workers, Approaching Strike Deadline, Continue Contract Negotiations".

The City and Toronto Public Library workers have four days to reach a new collective agreement before the strike and lockout deadline at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, May 2—and union representatives say the workers are willing to strike.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, CUPE Local 4948 president Maureen O’Reilly made clear that while she remains hopeful the union will reach an agreement with the library board before it’s necessary, the city’s roughly 2,300 library workers will not hesitate to withdraw their labour.

“Obviously in the world of labour relations a strike deadline is very meaningful,” O’Reilly says, “and unless real progress is being made at that time, we will exercise our right to [strike].”

Before then, the union will be increasing its appeal to the public with a series of ads and an event at Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday. Both the ads and the event are part of an effort to raise awareness of the current negotiations and to encourage supporters to push Mayor John Tory and the library board (of which Tory is a member) to reach a deal with the union.

Rabble.ca's Teuila Fuatai interviews librarians at the Parkdale branch to hear their stories.

Branch head Miranda Huska, a member of the Toronto Public Library Workers Union/CUPE local 4948, has worked there for 13 years -- witnessing how the community has changed and with it the library's services.

On Monday, she will be among the 2,300 library workers facing a lockout/strike deadline following nearly three months of contract negotiations between her union and the Toronto Public Library Board. Job security and funding are key issues at the bargaining table.

At the Parkdale branch -- which had nearly 500,000 people through its doors last year -- Huska reflects on why the library is such an important part of life for local residents.

"There has always been a lot of newcomers in Parkdale," she says.

The branch's after-school homework help program, language classes and computers are almost always busy.