Athens County Public Libraries' BOT endorses unionization efforts

NELSONVILLE — Athens County Public Libraries’ Board of Trustees approved a resolution seeking the voluntary recognition of a proposed union for library employees.

Athens Public Libraries Director Nick Tepe said any proposed unionization would affect about 30 employees.

“We fully support and respect the wishes of our staff and are working through the legal process to move us towards finalization of the recognition process,” Tepe said to the Messenger after the special meeting held Thursday at the Nelsonville branch of Athens County Public Libraries.

The Board’s resolution also directs the library to propose an alternate description of which job titles are included in the union’s bargaining unit. The library and union will work through the State Employment Relations Board process for reaching an agreement about the bargaining unit.

The Athens County Public Libraries United (ACPLU) Organizing Committee released the following statement in response to the resolution that is included at the end of this article.

“We are very appreciative that the ACPL Board respected our decision and voted to voluntarily recognize our union based on the overwhelming majority of staff who signed union cards,” ACPLU’s statement said. “We are looking forward to reaching an agreement about which job titles are included in our union. Voluntary recognition of our union allows us to immediately begin working collaboratively with our Board and administration on a fair union contract and on other shared priorities, like building support for our levy in this year’s election. Most importantly, voluntary recognition of our union is a clear statement to the community that ACPL staff, administration, and Board members are united to provide the highest quality libraries and resources to our patrons.”

The employees are organizing to join the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT), who represent nearly 20,000 active and retired public school teachers, charter school teachers, school support staff, higher education faculty and staff, library workers, and social work professionals in Ohio. They will be the fifth Ohio library system to join OFT since 2021 following workers at the public libraries in Worthington, Grandview Heights, Pickerington, and Upper Arlington.

Tepe said ACPL has given its staff some level of raise every year since he started in 2016.

“We usually try to do merit-based increases based on their performance evaluations, and at the end of 2023 the highest performers (19 staff members) received a 5% raise, the next highest (22 staff members) received a 4% raise, and employees who were performing at an acceptable standard (7 staff members) received a 3% raise,” Tepe said to the Messenger. “2022 was the last time we benchmarked our salaries against other libraries in the state, and due to the need for an across the board update all staff received a 10% raise at the end of the year.”

Supporters of ACPLU’s efforts to unionize an take action by contacting the leadership of Athens County Public Libraries or going to https://actionnetwork.org/

ACPL’s attempt to unionize is the second group of public sector employees to seek unionization in Athens County since January.

United Academics of Ohio University is pursuing unionization for faculty with 70% of the faculty endorsing the formation of a union to address demands for better pay and an equitable teaching workload. OU and Ohio State University are the only public institutions of higher learning in the state that are not unionized.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES ATHENS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES

WHEREAS, on July 29, 2024, the Athens County Public Libraries (“Library”) received a request to voluntarily recognize a union for certain classifications of employees based upon signed union cards;

WHEREAS, the Library, its Board of Trustees, administration and management staff desire to respect the wishes of its employees;

WHEREAS, the Library is willing to recognize the union without an election; however, the bargaining unit description as proposed by the union lists several positions that either do not exist in the Library or are inaccurately titled and the Library has further changes it would like to make therein.

WHEREAS, ORC 4117.05 and OAC 4117-3-02 allows an employer to file objections to a request for recognition in order to correct such discrepancies and to propose an alternative description of the appropriate bargaining unit.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Trustees that:

Section 1. This Board of Trustees hereby authorizes the director to take all actions necessary to correct errors and to make respective changes to the bargaining unit description, including any and all filings, unit determinations, and proceedings before the State Employment Relations Board (SERB);

Section 2. Upon completion of the process set forth in Section 1 to the satisfaction of the Library, the Library, through this action by its Board of Trustees, shall voluntarily recognize the union for the employees in the appropriate unit as determined by SERB.

Section 3. This Resolution shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its passage.