St. Charles library employees voice concerns over impasse in contract negotiations

St. Charles Public Library employees addressed Library Board trustees Feb. 8 to voice their frustrations over contract negotiations.

The union has been negotiating with the board since April 2022. Some of the outstanding issues revolve around employees not being given enough hours and not being paid a fair salary and benefits.

The library’s administration and managers are not part of the union.

“What the bargaining team brings to the table is what our members, who stop us in the stacks, in the staff hallways, in the staff lounge, tell us what they want,” St. Charles adult services librarian Sutton Skowron said in addressing Library Board trustees at their meeting. “Our members talk to us and convey their concerns to us because they trust us. And when we put something forth, it’s because our members asked for it and have told us it’s a concern of theirs.”

During her remarks, Skowron, who is a bargaining team member, also voiced disappointment in the treatment of the bargaining team at the most recent bargaining session Feb. 3.

Skowron said she grew up in St. Charles and received her first library card to the St. Charles Public Library when she was 5 years old.

“I care deeply about this library and this community, as do my colleagues,” she said. “Our proposals are crafted through hours of work and discussion as to how best to benefit and serve our employees, our library and our community.”

Being that it is the union’s first contract, AFSCME staff representative Carla Williams, who is the chief negotiator, said after the board meeting that she is not surprised it is taking so long to complete the negotiations with the Library Board trustees.

“But we also think that we should be farther along in the process,” Williams said. “We would like to reach an agreement as soon as possible because we would rather our members be focusing on the library’s services as opposed to constantly having to spend our time at the bargaining table.

“We are just trying to reach a fair agreement. And sometimes you have to have some back and forth to get a fair agreement. We want an agreement that will let us retain good staff. And the way you keep good staff is not just having good programs, it’s also about being able to get a fair salary and benefits because we know if we retain good staff long-term, that’s going to make the services better for the residents.”

Williams said there has been turnover during the negotiations.

“We’ve lost staff to other libraries,” she said. “We’ve lost part-time staff who were really good because they were able to get a full-time position at a different library that had better opportunities. Some of what we’re trying to negotiate is so we can retain staff long-term.”

That includes employees in the library’s information technology department as well as the youth services department, she said.

“They didn’t have the option of more hours and so we lost those folks,” Williams said.

After the meeting, Library Board President Robert Gephart said he had no comment about the negotiations.

In July 2021, the majority of employees at the St. Charles Public Library filed to form a union through AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) Council 31. The union was certified in November 2021.