Home

Statement to the Board Jan 2012

Details

Published on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 16:00

Written by Joshua Ashworth

Hits: 676

Hello, my name is Rich Robinson. I am president of the Dayton Metro Library Staff Association and it is in that role that I address you today.

Last week, I returned from the winter conference of the Working Assembly of Governmental Employees, or WAGE. WAGE is an organization of independent unions who share information, ideas, and support with our fellow members. Part of WAGE includes reports from each member organization.

I opened the DMLSA segment with a joke that went like this:

Q: What’s the difference between a librarian and a large pizza?

A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.

I opened with this joke because it describes the situation in which many of our members find themselves. Over the past few years, we have given up a lot from what was in the contract. We have given up three steps and given back a 3% pay raise.

Each year, our members raise more and more concern, but in the end, they always have supported the concessions. They have sacrificed on behalf of the library, and done so to protect each other; to walk together; and to help the library. Right now, over half our members are more than 12% behind where they expected to be because of contractual give-backs - sacrifices our members made for you.

But things have gotten tougher. Because while pay raises stopped, inflation did not. Fuel prices did not. Food prices did not. Medical premiums did not. Medical deductibles did not. So now your employees who were doing fine a few years ago are now scraping by paycheck-to-paycheck. And your employees who were paycheck-to-paycheck are falling into deeper and deeper and deeper fiscal crisis.

I know of DMLSA members who are putting off medical procedures. Who are putting off retirement until much later. Who, despite their love of libraries, are looking for other jobs. And there are more deeply impacted members, too. Ones who are bankrupt, or who are losing houses. Years of inflation-adjusted backpedaling in take home pay has that effect.

Abraham Maslow did some wonderful work that describes how people’s behavior changes based on a hierarchy of needs. For years, the library has happily moved us backward, and we have grudgingly accepted it to keep our brothers and sisters employed. We were meeting a higher-order need for socialization: sticking together.

As you have continually moved us back, though, many of us are now being faced with survival needs: food, shelter, health care. Maslow’s theory postulates that as these more basic needs go unmet, we will focus on them, to the exclusion of the socialization needs. In other words, we will begin to reject fiscal proposals that don’t let us feed our families. It’s a simple matter of basic human psychological theory.

I offer you this perspective for two reasons: First, it is a brief prelude to what I believe we (collectively) will have to solve at the negotiating table, and second (and more important), I wanted you to have a small insight into the collective psyche of the employees, since Tim Kambitsch tells us you intend to send a representative to our February 12th meeting.

Our people have been regressing in standard of living, based on your actions and your direction to your negotiating team. Now, you will come to try to convince them to support a quarter of a billion dollar capital project, at a time when they are downsizing their own lifestyles.

Strong defense of the building project coupled with a starkly un-empathic personnel position really give the impression that buildings are more important than people. This only compounds the fact that year after year, you’ve given us little or no pay increase while you slid literally millions of dollars into the building fund, solidifying the impression that staff will never be as important to the board as infrastructure.

So when you come to address the DMLSA - to educate our members on your plan - remember that you’ve spent years showing them how the building fund is more important than the professionalism and service they provide to the community. And remember that now, you’re willing to go to great lengths for a grand new home for your library while some of your employees are losing their own homes.

I don’t want to sound ungrateful; I really do thank you for agreeing to address our upcoming meeting. When you do so, however, please be aware of your audience. Here are a few bits of advice:

1. Don’t spend time telling us how important libraries are; we already know that.

2. Please don’t tell us how important WE are; our members will see right through hollow flattery. Actions have already spoken louder than any words can.

3. Please DO take the time to teach us about the plan. Educate us so we can make an informed decision.

The bottom line, I guess, is please, don’t patronize us; just help us understand.

As always, thank you for your time and attention, and thanks in advance for your careful consideration of my words.

• < Prev
• Next >