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One year without a new contract
Labor dispute brewing at Port Jefferson Free Library
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The next time you are at the library to check out a video or a book on CD, or even a bound volume of forgotten lore, you might notice your library staff are sporting buttons that read "Working without a contract since 7/08."
The 55 employees of the Port Jefferson Free Library have been working without a contract since the old one expired June 30, 2008.
Whereas neither side would speak of the details of the contract negotiations, Library Director Tara D'Amato said in an email Monday, "The Library values the contributions of its staff." But D'Amato also said "economic reality and our financial responsibility to local taxpayers who have already approved our 2009-2010 budget forces us to re-examine the entitlements and benefits that we had been able to agree to in the past."
That library budget, approved by voters in April, includes a tax appropriation from Port Jefferson residents in the amount of $2,700,252. The total library budget is actually about $700,000 larger — the additional balance coming from LIPA payments in lieu of taxes and the Miller Place and Mount Sinai school districts' library appropriations or "user fees."
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| | | | Librarian Robert Maggio declined to discuss the state of the contract talks while at work earlier this week. Like other staff, he sports a button that reads ‘Working without a contract since 7/08.’ Photo by D. Willinger. (click for larger version) | | |
Doreen Reynolds, the president of the library's staff association, said in an email yesterday the librarians are "also struggling to keep up with the economic times [and] have not had a raise … for over one year." In her statement, Reynolds alluded to the existence of many other "issues between the staff and the trustees."
She called for the support of the community and said library staff would engage in "informational picketing" on East Main Street and Thompson Street Saturday from 10:30 am to 3 pm, and again prior to Monday's meeting of the library's board of directors. That meeting, held in the basement of the library, begins at 7:30 pm and includes a public session, however, contract negotiations are typically only discussed in executive session from which the public and press are barred. Former board member Wolf Schaefer is currently serving as acting president since the resignation earlier this year of Jacob George for work-related reasons, according to D'Amato. Schaefer did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Reynolds said NYSUT, the state teachers union, has appointed a mediator to help move along the stalled talks. "We are hopeful that the library will resume talks as soon as possible to preserve the library's exemplary service and successful programs," Reynolds said.
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