Oak Lawn Library Board Refutes Employees' Allegations

OAK LAWN — The Oak Lawn Library Board of Trustees and administration are disputing some claims of library employees who announced their intent to unionize last week. The employees contend their voices weren’t heard when plans were made to reopen the library during the pandemic.

Library employees — including librarians, library assistants, library associations and pages — are seeking representation by AFSCME Council 31. Letters were to have arrived in eligible employees’ mailboxes last week encouraging them to sign the enclosed union cards.
In a written statement, the library board and administration said they recognize the employees’ right to unionize.

>>> Employees Announce Intent To Unionize At Oak Lawn Library

“However, before doing so, [we] only ask that the employees leading the unionization drive include all eligible library employees in the discussion and decision,” the statement said.

According to the library board and administration — for whom the employees’ announcement to unionize came as a surprise — “a good percentage of employees who had no idea there were complaints against the library management.”

The library board and management maintain that entire departments were not invited to unionization discussions, which they say had been taking place for several months.

“This action, in addition to the misinformation that is being spread by some employees has caused much discord among the employees,” the statement read.

The Oak Lawn Library Board of Trustees and administration further dispelled "misinformation" in the employees' unionization statement in a numbered list:

1. “Some staff said they were unaware that a new security guard died from coronavirus…”

The Oak Lawn Public Library, sadly, lost an employee to COVID-19 in early April. The news of her passing was disseminated to all employees, who were at home self-quarantining, through two communication paths on the day after her passing to ensure that all employees were aware to the situation. All employees were instructed to check their email frequently to keep the lines of communication open during the Stay-At-Home order.

2. “The library faces a $90,000 budget shortfall…”

As a result of the pandemic, the library may lose as much as $90,000 of anticipated revenue. However, expenses have also been affected by the pandemic. Therefore, the Board reallocated funds in a revised budget effective July 1, 2020.

This budget was not a cut budget. Budget lines were merely adjusted to reflect our new norm - anticipated revenue was reduced, PPE expenses were included and budget lines used for such things as conferences and programs that were not taking place were reduced to reflect the reality of our situation.

3. “Management rushed to open in this pandemic without enough attention to safety, along with cuts to staff and programs that library patrons care about.”

The library delayed opening its doors to patron until July 13, making sure there were adequate PPE supplies for staff and patrons before opening. The administration spent several weeks ordering: masks, hand sanitizer in bottles, wall-mounted and freestanding pump stations, Plexiglas shields for all public desks and inner office desks (as requested), gloves, and social distancing stickers for the floors. Other libraries in the area were open well before Oak Lawn.

All staff were trained in the proper use of masks and gloves and asked to practice social distancing at all times and wash their hands frequently. The Plexiglas shields were installed on every public service desk and on staff desks, when requested. Over $15,000 has been spent to date on PPE to keep our employees and patrons safe and healthy. To date, not one comment or complaint has been made to management about the lack of PPE.

Any reduction that was made to a program budget merely reflected the fact that some programs have been cancelled due to the pandemic to keep our employees and patrons safe. To keep our patrons and employees safe, we recognized that in-person programs should not take place until social distancing guidelines could be achieved. Therefore, some money originally allocated to programs was reallocated to PPE supplies.

The statement concluded:

"The decision was made to reopen to the public in mid-July, offering only curbside service and limited grab-and-go services. Library hours were reduced about 25% to further protect our employees. Unfortunately, fewer hours open to the public and minimal services means fewer hours of work for our part-time employees.

This was considered a temporary situation on the part of management. At present, the Board would like staff to consider offering more services, such as several open study rooms, a few tables for patrons to sit at for a period of time each day, more computer access and any program that can take place safely with social distancing. While some staff are eager to return to the programming they love, there are others still fearful and hesitant to provide more services."