On Friday, September 3, when most workers were excitedly counting down the hours to their Labor Day weekend holiday, 44 employees at the Queens Library had a different feeling.
For those 44 workers, many of whom were office workers and customer service representatives, that day was their last time working at their branches as library officials and union workers failed to reach a deal to spare layoffs resulting from budget cuts.
“It was like a funeral,” said Kane Noel, who has worked at the Central Library in Jamaica for the past two years before being laid off on Friday. “It wasn’t the best atmosphere to be in because a lot of coworkers were deeply touched, they were sad because basically we are a family. We see each other five days a week, eight hours per day.”
During the past few months, library officials and representatives for Local 1321, which represents more than 800 workers in Queens, have been looking for ways to keep the workers employed while finding ways to save money due to the budget cuts the library faced this year.
In the days leading up to Friday’s deadline, library officials had a proposal on the table for the union that would make a temporary change where vacation time would be used in the year that it was earned instead of being carried over to the following year.
“The library continued to refuse to guarantee no layoffs for the year, and the members were never willing to budge,” said John Hyslop, president of Local 1321.
For the past few years, Queens libraries have faced additional midyear cuts and last week, library officials said that in economic times as uncertain as these, it would be fiscally irresponsible to make such an unprecedented promise.
“We value every one of our staff members who deliver essential library services in Queens communities each day,” said Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante. “It is disappointing to have to say goodbye to any member of our team. We remain committed to maintaining the highest quality public library service as we get through these continued difficult economic times.”
