Surprise, surprise.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

Countdown to Tuesday's Rally

Come and help unlock our library at the

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.

One returned call out of three ain’t that good

Chris Graham, Chair of the GVPL and member of the GVLRA (Phone 896-0451) finally returned my call. He says that the lockout is a direct consequence of the union’s illegal acts – according to him the Food for Fines initiative was not only illegal but also cost the library $80,000. He also had a lot to say about his Board not being able to protect the library’s assets unless they locked us all out.

But the most interesting thing he said was that the key decisions are being made by the GVLRA. The GVLRA’s main job is to ensure consistency across 20 different collective agreements, so they get to set the mandate for the Library Board. But all the GVLRA meetings happen behind closed doors. The public is not entitled to attend their meetings or make presentations or read the minutes of their meetings. Mr. Graham grudgingly admitted that there had been ‘maybe a couple of special meetings’ about the library lockout in addition to their regular monthly meetings. The sense I got was that the GVLRA operates in secret and is accountable to nobody. Certainly not to us ordinary residents of Greater Victoria.

I tried my best to get Mr. Graham to talk about arbitration – a fast, fair way to resolve the issues and unlock our library – but he told me he can’t comment on that. Apparently only Ted Daly, Chairman of the GVLRA and Mayor of North Saanich, can answer questions about the GVLRA. On the library closure notice, Ted Daley and the GVLRA negotiator, Ron Brunsdon, are both listed as the people to contact for more information. The Catch-22 is that nobody that I know has had their calls to either of them returned.

But one of you might get lucky. Here’s their contact information – you can at least leave a message. And, if you actually get to talk to one of them, please email us the details of your conversation at It's Our Library.

Contact information for Ted Daly, Chairman of the GVLRA is 479-4088, and for Ron Brunsdon, negotiator for the GVLRA is 386-6196

From a locked out shut-in

Yesterday we heard from a woman who needs our library even more than most of us. She writes:

I am a shut in senior, with a terminal disease. The library is very, very important to me, in fact with the inferior and pathetic quality of TV programming, reading is the greatest pleasure in my life - and the ability to get large type books has been taken away from me.

I have been emailing politicians, members of the library board, and various others from lists on this site and one that I received from Robert Fleming. The replies I have received have either indicated that the email has been passed to someone else to deal with, or that the person I emailed has nothing to do with the matter, even though that person may be listed as being on a pertinent committee.

Which brings me to the question, which is not answered in all my emailing -- WHO ACTUALLY ORDERED THE LIBRARIES TO CLOSE AND WHERE DID THEY BELIEVE THAT THEY GOT THE AUTHORITY TO DO THIS? SOMEONE NEEDS TO BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS DECISION, THAT IS A DIRECT ACT OF ROBBERY TO THE TAXPAYING PUBLIC.

I believe that this mess can begin to be sorted out by answering this question, and directing initiation for correction to this entity whoever they are. We need to know where in their terms of reference it gave them permission to institute this action.
Vera Sivertson

Vera, your questions are good ones. The GVPL Board voted unanimously to lock us out of our library. We believe that that decision was taken because the GVLRA negotiator recommended it. At the GVLRA, only one board member, Pam Madoff, voted against the lockout. These board members are seriously out of touch with the public. The It's Our Library Rally next Tuesday (11am to noon, at the Central Library) will help to convince them that it's time for binding arbitration and an end to the lockout. We understand you can't be there, Vera, but we hope that your friends show up on your behalf.

Local Business Decries Library Lockout

We received the following as part of a weekly newsletter from For Good Measure, a Cadboro Bay business that we frequent. Good evidence that the discontent with the lockout is growing more vociferous.

VICTORIA' S SECRET

Well, no, this isn't the lingerie issue. It's about your local library - locked up now for more than four weeks.

The library board, municipal politicians and the GVLRA negotiators paint this as a labour issue (greedy, intransigent workers). It's really a story of inept management and irresponsibility.

Whether or not they now appreciate the principle of pay equity, the fact is that fifteen years ago the responsible parties in this dispute did accept it. They agreed on the protocols for job value comparisons and that City of Victoria positions would be used as the comparators. The money has never been budgeted to pay for it, and the same people who signed off on this now refuse to even discuss it.

We know that Canadians don't value their public institutions as they once did. But we wonder - how can our local politicians claim to value the library service for which they are responsible when they lock the doors and turn their faces away from their staff and the public?

Maintaining their lockout in its fifth week, the employer, its directors and their political masters all declare they are helpless to solve this sham; as taxpayers who fund the service we know different.

Mayors Causton, Hill, Leonard, Lowe, Twa and Young aren't running a private business whose revenue they would jeopardize by shutting down; they already have your money, dear taxpayer.

Six local mayors and their councillors have refused to honour a written commitment to their staff; instead they took your money, and then locked the doors.

It's pretty shameful. And that's Victoria's dirty little secret.

Ignominious Distinction for Victoria

We learned over the weekend that Victoria is the only city in all of North America ever to lock out its librarians – and its users. So now we can add embarrassment to the list of words, like frustrated and angry, that describe how we feel about the lockout.

And today marks the start of the second month that we and the rest of Greater Victoria’s library users have been locked out of Our Library. Aggravated is another word that comes to mind.

The ‘It’s Our Library’ Team has contacted the Library’s CEO and has asked to make a presentation to the Board next Tuesday – right after our Rally at the Central Library. Please plan to join us at the Rally – March 25th, 11am to noon. And bring your friends and family to rally for binding arbitration and open libraries.

Why We Need Binding Arbitration to Unlock Our Libraries

We heard back yesterday from Ernie Robertson, one of the very few politicians who have a seat on both the GVPL Board and the GVLRA. He claims in his response that the library is closed because of a strike. Most of us know that we’re locked out of the library directly as a result of decisions made by the Library Board and the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association. Mr. Robertson, you locked us out – not the library workers.

How can the two sides ever come together if they not only disagree on whether pay equity has been implemented, but even something as basic as whether we’re dealing with a strike or a lockout? Surely the first step toward a settlement is to agree on what the facts are. They haven’t even made it to square one yet.

Let’s end the nonsense -- bring in an arbitrator.

More Town Hall Meetings Coming

Yes, we're still planning the 'It's Our Library' Rally for Tuesday, March 25th, 11 am to noon at the Central Library, so that we can all show the Library Board members that we want our libraries unlocked.

We have also learned that there are some Town Hall meetings coming up where you can hear more about the issues and have your say. Who knows? Maybe someone from the GVPL Board or the GVLRA will finally show up and be willing to answer some questions.

Central Saanich - Wednesday, March 19 - 7:00 pm
Central Saanich Seniors Centre - 1229 Clarke Road

Victoria - Wednesday, March 26 - 7:30 pm
Fairfield Community Centre [Garry Oak Room] - 1335 Thurlow Street

Esquimalt - Thursday, March 27 - 7:00 pm
Archie Browning Sports Centre [Crows Nest Lounge] - 1151 Esquimalt Road

Starting to Listen?

As promised, we just sent our Open Letter to all the mayors and relevant (GVPL/GVLRA Board Member) councillors in the GVPL area. They are our elected representatives and we will let you know what they say.

We have received answers to our previous open letters to Saanich Council and the city of Victoria. Saanich Councillors Sanders and Brownoff are proposing motions similar to our resolution. Maybe less strongly worded. Thanks for your motions Councillors Sanders and Brownoff.

Mayor Leonard is still saying it's not his business.

The curent replies from Saanich can be found on the It's Our Library Website.

We have received no answers from the city of Victoria.

Let us hope this second open letter that was sent to all the mayors and relevant councillors gets listened to by all the GVPL mayors and councils. And that they all start to act to get our libraries unlocked.

How do you spell "Obsfuscate"?

OK, so maybe I had to look up the definition in the dictionary. And this is what I found out:

1. to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
2. to make obscure or unclear: to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information.
3. to darken.

What a perfect description of the way the GVPL Councils, the GVPL Board, and the GVLRA are handling the GVPL Library lockout. Nobody is responsible for anything.

Its no secret the It's Our Library Team thinks that immediate binding arbitration is the fastest and fairest way to return our libraries to us. What does that mean? Yesterday we spelled that out for you. Now we are formally asking the GVPL Mayors and Councils to help us.

You can see the what we are demanding by reading our Open Letter to them.

Please feel free to use our letter to contact them yourself, or use one of your own. You can also try phone and email.

It's Complicated, This GVPL Structure

We never knew what we were getting into when we decided to put the contact information for GVPL mayors and councillors in one format on one page on our web site. Every municipal source is different. We wanted to give you names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses so that you would have an opportunity to write, phone, or email our elected representatives and let them know how you feel about rapid, binding arbitration.

As I write this 97% of the 383 who have voted are in favor of binding arbitration to resolve the present lockout quickly and fairly. What does this mean? To us at "It's Our Library" it means the process outlined in our proposed municipal resolution:

"Direct the Greater Victoria Library Board (GVPL) and the Greater Victoria Labor Relations Association(GVLRA) to immediately end the current lockout of library workers, and to put the present labour dispute to immediate binding arbitration, provided the GVPL staff agrees to provide complete library service as soon as the lockout ends. "

We would like to see all ten GVPL municipalities adopt this resolution. We will be sending letters and emails and phone calls, starting tomorrow, to all the mayors and key councillors in the GVPL area.

Want to help? You can find most of contact information on our Municipal Links page on our web site. Let us know if you have any problems by sending us an email at It's Our Library.

Thanks. But "Its Our Library" Supports GVPL Users

We have received a number of comments and emails from library workers complimenting what we are doing. Thank you.

Our sympathies are with the library patrons who were disadvantaged by some of your service shutdowns. Lots of students and seniors were using the library computers.

What we are fighting for is rapid binding arbitration AND a full service library. We are not pro-union or pro-management.

We suspect your cause is just. Binding arbitration is the best and fairest way to find out.

Some Leadership, Please, Saanich

Where is Saanich leadership? We sent the Saanich Mayor and Council an open letter asking our elected representatives to take a leadership role in solving this library dispute. We are concerned about the minimal response number and the tone of the replies.

From the open letter we received only one reply. Councillor Judy Brownoff's e-mail said that she was helpless, it's out of her hands, can't do anything.

The Saanich News recently had an Op-Ed piece by Councillor Vic Derman. It has basically the same line. To quote Councillor Derman:

"Saanich does have one politician (Coun.Wayne Hunter) on this board and several citizen representatives but they haven’t provided council much in the way of updates on the dispute. This may be because as a council, we have no authority to become involved."

Is Saanich not paying for the GVLRA? If not, then why is the GVLRA negotiating for the GVPL where Saanich is the largest municipal stakeholder? If they are paying then surely Saanich has a leadership role in directing the GVLRA.

Councillor Wayne Hunter's views, expressed in a telephone inerview with It's Our Library can be summarized as follows:

1. We had to cut off all library service to improve library service.

2. Arbitration doesn't work if the parties are too far apart. News to us. That's the principal reason for arbitration.

3. The GVLRA's failure to reach a settlement in 18 months is offset by its success elsewhere. ??

4. CUPE is using library workers as a point group to get higher wage settlements elsewhere. It'll be an interesting time when other workers are trying to achieve pay equity with library workers.

5. It's all about the money. Mmm. This is about pay equity, isn't it?

If no-one on Saanich Council is accepting responsibility for solving this lockout, and Saanich is the biggest player in the GVPL, where does that leave us? If Saanich Council passes a resolution directing the GVLRA to take this mess to binding arbitration surely that would get this Gordian knot untangled. Let's have some public discussion, and hopefully some leadership from Saanich.

Unlock Our Library - NOW

Here are two opportunities to show the politicians and the media that we want Our Library unlocked:

1. Thursday, March 6, 7pm - the first town hall meeting to discuss the lockout. Both sides have been invited to talk, as well as some outside experts. Location: Windsor Park Pavilion, Oak Bay

2. Saturday, March 8, starting at 1:15 in Centennial Square - Support the Library Workers at an International Women's Day celebration and march to the Legislature.

The It's Our Library Team will be there for both events -- hoping to see you there too.

Leadership from Saanich and Victoria?

Saanich and Victoria are the two biggest municipalities in the GVPL. We just sent the Mayors and Councillors letters asking for their support. You can read what we said on our website at It's Our Library.

If you want to add your voice in support of binding arbitration you can click Saanich Mayor and Council to reach them.

Click on Victoria Mayor and Council to reach them. You will have to navigate to each individual, but just follow the links, they are pretty straight forward.

Where is Saanich?

Writing about the lockout , Jack Knox of the Times Colonist has a library joke for us:

"A guy goes up to the front desk at the library, bellows "I'D LIKE A BIG MAC, SMALL FRIES, MEDIUM COKE!"

"But this is a library," the woman behind the desk replies.

"Sorry," the guy says, then whispers "I'd like a Big Mac, small fries."

He also has a few not-so-funny things to say that, maybe, you didn't know:

• The Chair of the GVLRA, that mysterious association that is negotiating for the municipalities is the mayor of North Saanich, Ted Daly. And North Saanich is not part part of the GVPL system.
• Saanich has four branch libraries in the GVPL, and by far the largest population of any municipality in the GVPL, but is not represented in the GVLRA. No representatives? Not a one.
• The GVLRA is tiny, mainly one negotiator. Its main job is to bring the librarians to their knees. While the GLVRA is doing this, the combined GVPL municipalities are saving an estimated $20,000 per day, or $560,000 per month, $6,700,000 per year in unpaid wages. The estimated annual financial losses from the librarian's job action is about $500,000 per year, according to Chris Graham, GVPL Chairman.

Not surprisingly the GVLRA is now talking about throwing out years of study on how to pay the librarians fairly and according to an agreement signed off on by both the librarians and the GVPL, and is looking to compare their salaries to other librarians.

Jack Knox sees this as a "sliver of light in the lockout..." I beg to disagree. Where are our municipal politicians? Let's send the parties to binding arbitration and get this mess over with.

It Isn't only between the Librarians and the GVLRA

We're glad to see the Times Colonist concerned about the library users that are being deprived of service by the lockout. Believe it or not, Chris Graham, the GVPL Chairman, says that the lockout is to make sure the library provides service to you and me, the library users.

Carolyn Heiman at the Times Colonist tells the story of the visually impaired Judith Rayburn who now can't access the Internet or talking books. On a pension, Rayburn would visit the library every other day. Not now.

Every time you go to the Nellie McClung branch you will see young mothers with small kids in tow. They are checking out stacks of children's books. I doubt they can afford to buy those big stacks of books for their enthusiastic beginnng readers.

At least MLA Rob Fleming is starting to speak out. But where are the Councillors and Mayors? They're up for election at the end of the year. Don't they care?

Library staff lockout a ‘political farce’

Wow! Joyce Josephson, head librarian at the Nellie McClung Library is upset big time about the current GVPL Board lockout. She politely calls it a "political farce". Josephson's views are very clearly expressed in her letter to the Saanich News (saanichnews.com). Her points:

• The GVPL Board is appointed by politicians who turn over negotiations to a professional negotiating group, the GVLRA, made up of...? you guessed it... politicians!
• The Chair of the GVPL Board is part of the GVLRA but, even though the GVLRA is hired by the GVPL Board, he says he can't intervene in the negotiations. ??? Confused? Me too.
• The various mayors say they can't intervene because the GVLRA is handling the negotiations even though some of the mayors are are in the GVLRA. What? More confused? Me too!
• The GVLRA believes the pay-equity issue, the key bone of contention, has been dealt with. The union disagrees.

Finally, Josephson asks us to ask the politicians this question: "If they are so sure pay equity has been dealt with why not agree to independent third-party arbitration as the union has done?"

We agree with Josephson. It's our library. Let everyone back off and submit to binding arbitration.

Let us know what you think. Vote if you haven't already done so. And please leave a comment or email us at It's Our Library.