At the March 19th Board Meeting, DMLSA Steward Lori Rotterman read the following statement:
Thank you for the
opportunity to address the board. My
name is Lori Rotterman and I'm a steward for the Dayton Metro Library Staff
Association. In past months, you've
heard from our president, Rich Robinson.
We wanted to give the board the opportunity to meet more of our members,
so I'm making the union's statement to the board this month.
The biggest news
in the union world is the upcoming negotiation with the library. Last week, we filed our notice to negotiate,
and we will be looking to schedule negotiating meetings in the near future.
To prepare for
negotiations union leadership met on Friday night. We discussed the union's commitment to unity
during negotiations, and we talked about what is important to the bargaining
unit. As you might expect, the most
important issue to most bargaining unit members was compensation.
Since July of
2001, we've watched our paychecks shrink year after year in terms of inflation
adjusted dollars. Since July of 2000,
our compounded pay raises have totaled just over 14%. During the same period, Bureau of Labor
Statistics reports the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased by more than
19.6%. This means that the purchasing
power and standard of living of a Reference Assistant hired today would be 5.6%
less than that of a Reference Assistant hired eight years ago. In Montgomery
County, the standard of
living of library employees has consistently moved backward during this decade.
When coupled with
the drastic increase in health care costs, our average union member is much worse
off than someone in a similar position at the start of this decade.
We noted with some
interest that at your last meeting, you approved a pay increase of about 4.2%
for the Executive Director. In past
years, you've given the Executive Director raises of 4%, 6%, and 5%. Coupled with this year's 4.2% raise, the
compounded value of these raises over the last four years is nearly 21%. The raises given to DMLSA employees have been
under 11% during the same time, and the CPI has increased by more than 12%.
This disparity has
been noticed by nearly all our members, and is the cause of much unrest. It also serves to unify the members of the
bargaining unit in the face of the pending negotiations.
We, the people of
the DMLSA, believe that we are critical to the continued success of the
library. We know that our members are
the engine that keeps the library moving.
We hope you understand the importance of our contribution. We are prepared to fully support our
negotiating team as they work with your team to ensure that the most critical
component of a library - its staff - is not becoming poorer with each passing
year.
We are unified in
our belief that this library is important to the citizens of Montgomery County. We are united in our belief that together, labor
and management can strengthen the library and make it more effective and a more
vibrant contributor to the communities of Montgomery County. But we are also united in our belief that our
contributions have been consistently undervalued as our compensation has
continually lagged behind inflation.
We enter this
negotiating season with the earnest hope that the library will work with us to
remedy the situation, but we also have the sad expectation that they will do
exactly the opposite. We recognize the
importance of the board in this process and are asking for your reflection as
we prepare move forward. Please consider
whether you want the staff that moves your library forward to end this decade
poorer than we started it. We hope you
decide that condition is not acceptable.
Comments (4)
