Addressing the GVPL lockout The Globe and Mail, Monday March 31, 2008 said:
"The public has not taken kindly to the matter, holding public rallies and bombarding library board members with voicemails and e-mails.
"Ad-hoc groups, including one called It's Our Library, mobilized to put more pressure on the two sides. Angry protesters stormed the library board's monthly meeting."
No kidding. Let's hope they're right. The final paragraph in the piece said:
"A media blackout is now in place, something generally seen as a sign that two parties engaged in a dispute are close to a deal."
Let's keep our collective fingers crossed!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
A Very Cautious Maybe, Just Maybe
Maybe, just maybe.
Watching the CHEK news last night and listening to the CBC this morning leads us to believe there may be, just maybe, some cause for very cautious optimism. CUPE's Ed Seedhouse and GVLRA's Board Chairman Ted Daly were making conciliatory noises.
CUPE and the GVLRA are meeting with a mediator. Daly said he hoped the issues could be resolved this weekend, and was prepared to negotiate over the weekend, if necessary. Seedhouse appeared to agree.
The important part of the reasons given for this turnaround was the anger and frustration expressed by you, the users, for this senseless lockout.
Our reaction? We hope they mean what they say. We wish a speedy return to the full service library we've been paying for. But don't throw away your "get our library open" signs just yet. We'll stay on their case until they deliver on what both CUPE and the GVLRA are saying now.
Watching the CHEK news last night and listening to the CBC this morning leads us to believe there may be, just maybe, some cause for very cautious optimism. CUPE's Ed Seedhouse and GVLRA's Board Chairman Ted Daly were making conciliatory noises.
CUPE and the GVLRA are meeting with a mediator. Daly said he hoped the issues could be resolved this weekend, and was prepared to negotiate over the weekend, if necessary. Seedhouse appeared to agree.
The important part of the reasons given for this turnaround was the anger and frustration expressed by you, the users, for this senseless lockout.
Our reaction? We hope they mean what they say. We wish a speedy return to the full service library we've been paying for. But don't throw away your "get our library open" signs just yet. We'll stay on their case until they deliver on what both CUPE and the GVLRA are saying now.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
A Gavel Banger Extraordinaire
GVPL Board Chairman Chris Graham certainly made an impression on the public audience at the GVPL Board meeting yesterday afternoon. At the slightest murmur of dissent from an essentially polite group of library users he banged his gavel so hard I thought it would explode. Intimidation? Here he is, ready to pounce.
Well if that was his aim it didn't keep It's Our Library spokesperson Katrin Horowitz quiet. She told the GVPL Board their decision to lockout the library users was "shameful". She chided the Board for being out of touch with the many library users who are paying for the GVPL, (including the Board's pizza dinner), but are being prevented from using the library resources by this unconscionable lockout. Katrin also pointed out that this is the first and only known library lockout in North American history. Some achievement.
Thank You Victoria Councillor Pamela Madoff!
Our collective hats are off to Victoria Councillor Pamela Madoff.
Pam is the only elected representative on the GVLRA Board that tells us anything useful. She is the only person on the GVLRA Board who voted against the lockout. And more than that, she is the only GVLRA Board member who will answer questions about the GVLRA in public.
Thank you Pamela for giving us an inside look at that mysterious entity, the GVLRA and its board.
Pam is the only elected representative on the GVLRA Board that tells us anything useful. She is the only person on the GVLRA Board who voted against the lockout. And more than that, she is the only GVLRA Board member who will answer questions about the GVLRA in public.Thank you Pamela for giving us an inside look at that mysterious entity, the GVLRA and its board.
Quite a Day!
Thanks to the hundreds of you who came to yesterday's rally, I think the GVPL Board and the GVLRA are finally beginning to get the message. It's quite simple: It's Our Library, and we all want it unlocked. See today's TC for some of the coverage.
Big thanks too to Caelen Bright, her three children and all the other mothers and kids who descended on the GVLRA offices (#330 - 2950 Douglas Street) for a storytime sit-in. Watching a very rattled Ron Brunsdon, the GVLRA negotiator, on CHEK TV news try to evict them was priceless. Those of us who have only tried to reach Mr. Brunsdon by phone could take lessons from her.
But the day didn't end there. About 40 of us came back to the Central Library for the GVPL board meeting, where an equally rattled Chris Graham whacked his gavel and threatened to throw us out. A special thanks to the folks who staged a sit-in at the end of the public part of the meeting, and who only left when library CEO Barry Holmes promised that this outrageous lockout should be over in the next week or two.
Way to go, Victoria!
Big thanks too to Caelen Bright, her three children and all the other mothers and kids who descended on the GVLRA offices (#330 - 2950 Douglas Street) for a storytime sit-in. Watching a very rattled Ron Brunsdon, the GVLRA negotiator, on CHEK TV news try to evict them was priceless. Those of us who have only tried to reach Mr. Brunsdon by phone could take lessons from her.But the day didn't end there. About 40 of us came back to the Central Library for the GVPL board meeting, where an equally rattled Chris Graham whacked his gavel and threatened to throw us out. A special thanks to the folks who staged a sit-in at the end of the public part of the meeting, and who only left when library CEO Barry Holmes promised that this outrageous lockout should be over in the next week or two.
Way to go, Victoria!
Monday, March 24, 2008
CHEK Gets the Story: Tonight at 5:00pm on Channel 6
In the countdown to tomorrow's It's Our Library Rally at the Central Library (11am to noon) Katrin Horowitz gets the story to CHEK News. Her message?It's time to end the lockout -- now. Let's recognize the people who are really being punished by being locked out of the library -- all the library users. Yes, the same people who are paying for the library services they are not getting.
Katrin did try to get into the library. Not surprisingly, although she can see all these resources through the window, the door remains locked.We say again:
Binding arbitration is the fastest and fairest way to end this mess!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Countdown to Tuesday's Rally
Come and help unlock our library at the
Following the rally, a group of parents and their kids will be holding a story time and sit-in at the GVLRA offices (#303 - 2950 Douglas Street). For details, go to Kids in Victoria.
The It's Our Library Team will also be making a presentation to the GVPL Board at 5:30 on Tuesday. It's an open meeting -- let's fill up the boardroom with library users who want the lockout to end.
It's Our Library Rally
Tuesday, 11am to Noon, at the Central Library
Following the rally, a group of parents and their kids will be holding a story time and sit-in at the GVLRA offices (#303 - 2950 Douglas Street). For details, go to Kids in Victoria.
The It's Our Library Team will also be making a presentation to the GVPL Board at 5:30 on Tuesday. It's an open meeting -- let's fill up the boardroom with library users who want the lockout to end.
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