Globe & Mail: Library workers picket with pizzazz
– Todd Wong interviewed with accordion!

Library workers picket with pizzazz – Globe & Mail story by Laura Drake

It seemed like an interesting angle to story about the Vancouver civic strike.  Why are Vancouver Library workers so cheerful with high morale on their first picket line in their CUPE 391 Union's first strike in 77 years?

“We are creative, literate, entrepreneurial, child-friendly and community oriented people,” I told G&M reporter Laura Drake.  She had heard about my accordion playing on the picket line and had found my blog reports and pictures on www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com. 

“Writer Tom Sandborn spoke to us yesterday, Terry Glavin last week, and today the World Poetry Society is coming to address our library workers.”

They wanted a picture of me playing accordion, and I immediately suggested that videographer/library worker James Gemmill should be in the picture too.  James videoed me playing some songs… just like he did when he has created some of his videos of library workers on the picket line – which can be seen on www.cupe391.ca/blog2

Today we have author/historia Chuck Davis coming, and Stan Persky on Friday.  Chuck  Davis's “The Vancouver Book” was the second most stolen book in Vancouver Public Library history.  Persky was the original editor of Solidarity Times during the BC Solidarity movement.  He also wrote books on the Polish Solidarity movement.  Daniel Gawthrop, author of the Rice King Diaries, will be reading/speaking on Monday.

James Gemmill, Globe & Mail reporter Laura Drake, G&M photographer Laura Leyshon and Todd Wong – pose after Leyshon took pictures of James videoing Todd. – photo T.Wong collection.

Ross Bliss and Todd Wong – gypsy jazz guitar + classical concert accordion = fun

Check out the G&M story below:

http://theunionnews.blogspot.com/2007/08/striking-govt-union-workers-picket-with.html

VANCOUVER — The song Happy Together
was not meant to be played on the accordion, nor is it traditionally
considered a union protest song, but as striking Vancouver library
worker Todd Wong pumped out the tune yesterday for fellow picketers
yesterday in Library Square, it was a little bit of both.

“People thank me because they enjoy the music and it creates a
wonderful ambience,” said the library assistant, who had his picture
snapped by fellow strikers and tourists alike.

A 30-year veteran of both the accordion and the Vancouver Public
Library, Mr. Wong is just one example of the artistic temperament that
has decidedly flavoured the library workers' strike.

Today marks the start of the fifth week of the first strike ever in
Vancouver's library union history. The smallest of the Vancouver unions
currently on strike, CUPE 391's 800 members have taken a unique
approach to walking the picket lines – one that involves very little
walking and more knitting, reading, singing, barbecuing, listening to
lectures and practising tai chi.

Mr. Wong admits he's been slack with his performance schedule –
mostly because he's been busy organizing for poets, choirs and authors
to come entertain the striking workers.

“People are more than willing to come and perform for our picketers.
They have an appreciative audience that's cultural and literate,” Mr.
Wong said.

And just like the weekly Friday barbecues and daily tai chi in the
mornings led by librarian Tim Firth, the presentations are open to all.

“We do this because we want to continually engage with the community,” said Peter DeGroot, CUPE 391's job action co-ordinator.

“We feel compassionate and proud about the work that we do and we
can't just stop reaching out and being involved with the community.”

Many of the striking library workers have been answering questions
on the line that they would usually answer at reference desks, using
wireless laptops and cellphones to help confused passersby.

“It's very difficult to take the library out of the library worker,” laughed CUPE 391 president Alex Youngberg.

Ms. Youngberg pointed out that librarians and those who work with
them are generally of an artistic temperament, something that has
become evident during the strike. For example, she said, striking
workers have knit more than 80 hats, which are being sold for charity
or will be donated to Downtown Eastside residents.

“People who work for the library are a very creative, eclectic
bunch,” said Mount Pleasant children's librarian D'Arcy Stainton. “We
have all these creative people coming up with all of these things.
Every day on the picket line is different.”

Mr. Stainton and James Gemmill, another library worker, have created
a series of black-and-white videos posted on the union's website. While
Mr. Gemmill's videos serve as artistic depictions of life on the picket
line, Mr. Stainton's videos are humorous send-ups of the city's
position on key union issues, set to Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and narrated in an old-time newscaster voice.

While the videos serve as a creative outlet and a morale booster for
other library workers, they also allow Mr. Stainton to show his support
for the issues that are keeping the library workers on strike, such as
pay equity.

“I spent five years as a single dad working in a female dominated
profession and it's hard when you look around and see other city
employees with master's degrees making $20,000 more than you,” he said.

Most of Mr. Stainton's cohorts are equally as devoted to achieving
pay-equity language in their collective agreement, something Mr. Wong
said they've been seeking for 30 years. At a recent union rally, the
library workers were by far the rowdiest bunch in the crowd, giving Ms.
Youngberg louder support than any other speaker.

“That spirit is still there,” Ms. Youngberg said yesterday. “This is
their first strike, and I wasn't sure how they would feel about it four
weeks in, but if anything, they seem to be more passionate.”

Pay equity issues in the media + writer Tom Sandborn coming to speak to Library Workers

Ugh… it's back to the picket lines today… after my blissful little dragon boat racing and cultural visit to Victoria.  More about my visits to Emily Carr House, Craigdarroch Castle and Victoria Chinatown tomorrow…

Today, we have a visit from writer Tom Sandborn to come speak to library workers at Library Square.  I have met Tom on various occasions, and after last week's visit by author Terry Glavin, Tom was recommended by former Vancouver city councillor Fred Bass.

Yesterday, Tom wrote an article for The Tyee about the pay equity issues raised by CUPE 391, Vancouver library workers.  And today, the Vancouver Sun published a story about pay equity issues. Fancy that!  Finally… library issues are breaking past the concerns about garbage.

Vancouver's Library Strike: Women's Pay on the Line

Picketing librarians at VPL.

Men get nearly $6 more hourly for similar work, says union.

By Tom Sandborn

Published: August 20, 2007

http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/08/20/LibraryStrike/

Vancouver city librarians say a key reason they're still on the
picket line is a sexist divide in pay rates. Hourly pay for library
jobs filled mostly by women start at nearly $6 less than jobs of equal
value that happen to be filled by a majority of men, a study shows.

The 17.5 per cent raise over five years the city is now offering is only part of what the union is fighting for, they said.

Spokespeople for CUPE 391, the local that represents city
librarians, told The Tyee on Thursday night that they were encouraged
that their employer had agreed to meet for negotiations on Friday, Aug.
17, but were cautious about how much progress they could make. They
said that although the city's press release announcing the new
negotiations indicated a willingness “to negotiate wage adjustments as
a means of addressing wage issues raised by library staff,” to date the
city negotiators have refused to discuss any of the local's four key
bargaining demands: pay equity, improvements for part-time workers, job
security and general benefit improvements.

Three weeks into the strike, they say the city's latest offer falls
short of others already settled in the Lower Mainland, and includes a
proposal to add a new, low-wage job classification that would hire
workers at reduced wages to do work currently done by library
assistants.

“Pay equity is a human rights issue,” said Laura Safarian, a
librarian at VPL's downtown main branch, and a member of her local's
bargaining committee.

“Canada has signed on to international agreements that recognize the
human rights implications of gender bias in wages. This statement from
the city, awkward as it is, represents the first time we've seen any
recognition at all of the issue from the employer. We have made
significant compromises in our negotiations already, including a
reduction in the special wage adjustment we're asking for, for all
professional librarians,” Safarian added.

read more Vancouver's Library Strike: Women's Pay on the Line

Here is the Vancouver Sun article:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=56f23425-f043-4857-8e2d-460edf3ab71e&k=30845

What are the real issues in the Vancouver Civic strike?
The Georgia Straight finds a political spin between Vision Vancouver's Raymond Louie and the NPA's Suzanne Anton.

Suzanne was one of the first politicians we called on for help with the Save Joy Kogawa House
campaign when she was a parks commissioner, as was Heather Deal.  I've known Raymond since
just before he was elected city councillor, and our family histories
were both included in the Three Early Chinese Canadian Pioneer Families exhibit at the Chinese Cultural Centre's Museum and Archives back in 2002.

By accident (or fortune) I bumped into Suzanne Anton last week, while
on picket duty at Library Square.  Suzanne was on her way to a meeting
at Library Square and recognized me, but she hadn't been aware that I
worked for the library.  We had a short friendly chat about some of the
issues regarding the strike.  At the city hall rally last week on
Friday I bumped into Vision Vancouver councillor George Chow, whom I
also know.  George was the only city councillor to come outside and
talk with city workers to find out their issues and feelings were.

Check out the Georgia Straight article below… then read my comments

Suzanne Anton: Vision using strike for political gain

http://www.straight.com/article-105744/suzanne-anton-vision-using-strike-for-political-gain

Vision
Vancouver’s Raymond Louie rejects Coun. Suzanne Anton’s claims,
suggesting instead that Mayor Sam Sullivan’s inaction extended the
strike.

There's more to
Vancouver's civic strike than just the question of wages and benefits,
says a member of Mayor Sam Sullivan's Non-Partisan Association caucus.

As
far as NPA councillor Suzanne Anton is concerned, the job disruption is
being orchestrated by CUPE locals and the opposition party Vision
Vancouver as a disguised political action against Sullivan. “There's a
huge political agenda going on here,” Anton told the Straight. “It's
interesting that the non–NPA councillors seem to very closely related
to CUPE. They don't support management, they support CUPE, [and] they
certainly don't support the mayor at all. It appears to be suiting
their political agenda to have the strike continue.”

Prior
to the strike, Anton told the Straight that she is supporting the
mayor's bid for reelection in 2008. Anton said that the language being
used by locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and by Vision
Vancouver to describe the strike is a giveaway.

“It's
interesting that both [Vision councillors] Heather Deal and Raymond
Louie and CUPE like to call this 'Sam's strike',” Anton said. “Why are
they doing that? That's obviously 100 percent politics. That's not
about trying to get a good settlement for CUPE members. That's about
promoting a political agenda. Councillors Raymond Louie and Heather
Deal are on the same page politically as CUPE–and that is, they hope to
take shots at the mayor.”

An ex–union organizer, Louie has
often been touted as a future mayor by former mayor Larry Campbell.
When sought for comment about Anton's political reading of the strike,
Louie told the Straight that Sullivan has only himself to blame for the
labour mess. He said voters will decide if it's a “political hit”
against the mayor.

“But clearly voters are unhappy with the
strike and the mayor's inability to solve this,” Louie said. “The
inaction of the mayor to solve this is what is driving the displeasure.”

see more:  Suzanne Anton: Vision using strike for political gain

Todd Wong plays accordion on the CUPE
391 picket line – sharing his talents and helping to make the strike
environment a more culturally stimulating and beautiful place.

But while the media spins intrigue about the hidden agendas and
the roles of the GVRD labour relations bureau, and the Wilcox Group…
shouldn't the real issues include that the workers want to get back to
work, and provide the service that city taxpayers want to receive???

CUPE 391 has NEVER been on strike before, not in our 77 year history!

The library strike is getting lost in the shuffle!!!  We are being
treated just as if we are the same as CUPE 15 and CUPE 1004.  We are
NOT!  We did not go on strike in 2000, and we have often worked without a contract while our union and employer bargained.

CUPE 391 made their opening offer in November 2006.  Why did it take 9
months later for “the employer” to make their opening offer, after CUPE
391 was already on the picket lines for 2 weeks?

Watch a video about Vancouver Library workers on DAY 15.  See me playing accordion!
http://jamesandannie.cyberflunk.com/portfolio/video13.html

We are creative, intellectual, literate, cultural, and dedicated to the community… why would we want to be on strike? 

Unless we knew it was in the best interests of our fellow workers, our public patrons, and the City of Vancouver…

A tremendous brain trust and community resource is being squandered. 
Community programs are not being presented.  Businesses can't access
information.  Academic researchers can't find their information. 
Children are cut off from summer reading programs.  Cultural groups and
sporting organizations can't access information or promote their
events.  Nobody wins.  Everybody loses.

When former city librarian Madge D'alto first came to the Vancouver
Public Library, she remarked what a wonderful resource and institution
that the Vancouver Public Library was.  And that if she was an invading
army, the first thing she would do would be to close down the
libraries, to cut off the access to information.  That is how important
libraries are.

We don't want a War Room as advertised on the Wilcox Group website… Library workers want peace.  We would rather the money spent on a PR firm be better spent on a mediator.

I am proud of the good work that I have done in the city libraries. Last year I received my 30 year service pin at the Vancouver Public Library,
and was also thanked by VPL board chair Joan Andersen for my community
work too.  She was wonderfully surprised to be able to present me with
my service pin, because she is more aware of the community and cultural work I have
done through my involvements with the CBC – both radio and television,
as I am often asked for interviews or for resources.  These are the kinds of workers we have at the library – resourceful, community-oriented and dedicated.

Todd Wong (centre): 30 years of library service, celebrated with City
Librarian Paul Whitney, and Library Board Chair Joan Andersen – photo
Deb Martin

by
Todd
on Thu 27 Apr 2006 12:05 AM PDT

The Tyee:  Endless Summer – a great in depth story about Vancouver's civic strike

Monte Paulsen has written a nice in depth story about Vancouver's civic strike.  He examines and compares each of the sides…  the City's, the Union's, the GVRD Labour Relations Bureau, and the role of the Wilcox Group – a PR firm.

Check it out:

http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/08/16/EndlessSummer/

Endless Summer (Strike)

Ten other cities have settled with civic workers. Why can't Vancouver?

By Monte Paulsen

Published: August 16, 2007

TheTyee.ca

The City of White Rock reached a tentative deal with its employees
on Wednesday, the tenth such agreement struck in the Lower Mainland in
recent weeks. But the City of Vancouver isn't even talking to the two
CUPE locals that represent most of its workers, and both sides are
warning that this summer's strike could continue well into September.

Each side has its own explanation as to why “Sam's Strike” will go
on. The union claims highly paid strike-breaking consultants have
guided employer strategy. City hall claims the union is out to deal
Mayor Sullivan a mortal blow.

But the divergent explanations do more to illustrate the chasm than to illuminate negotiations…..

Read the rest at  Endless Summer (Strike)

Also read: http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/07/27/Bottleneck/

'Bottleneck' Blamed for Strike

GVRD employers' rep overloaded, slow, says union.

By Tom Sandborn

Published: July 27, 2007

TheTyee.ca

As municipal strikes in B.C.'s Lower Mainland grind toward the end
of their first full week, questions are being raised about the role
played by a little known body of regional bureaucrats, the Greater
Vancouver Regional Labour Relations Bureau.

The bureau is an umbrella group for municipal employers that is
supposed to make labour bargaining more efficient. But the only
significant progress so far during July's escalating labour disputes
came in Richmond, a municipality that has opted out of the bureau.

Cities like Vancouver, still locked into what is portrayed by some
as a bottlenecked process, are not even back at the table negotiating…..

Read the rest at : 'Bottleneck' Blamed for Strike

Civic Strike: send a letter to Mayor Sam Sullivan and city council

The Vancouver civic strike is affecting many aspects of life in Vancouver.  From community centres, garbage pick-up, permits, parking, city business and of course libraries!

This is the first strike in our union's 77 year history!!!  In previous years, we have worked without a contract to ensure the smooth operation of library services.  But now.. the process is turned upside down.  The Library board is not in charge of negotiations. 

City Hall's human resources is directing it with the GVRD Labour Relations Council, with the aid of the Wilcox Group – a PR firm hired to handle labour disputes, crisis management as well as VANOC.  Why has the city hired a PR firm to create political spins on contract negotiations instead of hiring a mediator to find resolution.  Why hire a PR firm that advertises a “War Room” on their website, when we should be seeking “Peace”…. I thought that Vancouver's nick name was “City of Peace.”  Check out the information found by CUPE 15, released through a Freedom of Information application:
http://cupe.ca/news/Wilcox_Group_reveale

For information about the strike please check:
www.cupe391.ca/blog2/
www.fairnessforcivicworkers.ca

Main issues are pay equity, respect and bargaining fairly… not asking for more concessions!

Here is a letter that you can download, and send to Vancouver city council and your friends. It reads: