Who is NSUPE Local 14?
The Union representing staff at Halifax Public Libraries: Librarians, Library Assistants, technical, security, and maintenance staff. We include over 340 members.
Has there ever been a strike before?
No, Local 14 has never before been on strike or even close to strike.
How long could the strike last?
We do not know. Until an agreement is reached between HPL and the Union, we will be on strike.
How long have HPL and NSUPE Local 14 been negotiating?
We have been bargaining since October 2023, with a total of 55 meetings and 2 conciliation meetings with a provincially appointed conciliator.
Our members have been without a contract since April 2023.
When did you go on strike?
We went on strike at midnight on Monday, August 26.
What is the Union looking for at the bargaining table? Why are you striking? What are your issues?
There are three key issues at the bargaining table, and it is not just about wages!
1. Wages
2. Parental Leave Top-Up Pay for Adoptive parents
HPL’s service model centers around equitable service, not equal service and NSUPE believes HPL should extend that same model to their employees. It is expensive to bring a new child into the home regardless of being a birthing or an adoptive parent. Members shouldn’t be penalized for taking a longer leave as each adopted child has different needs. NSUPE would like to keep provisions around top-up for adoptive parents as they are within the collective agreement.
3. Employees absent from work without approved leave
NSUPE would like to remove a provision in the collective agreement that says if you’re absent from work without approved leave for 2 days or more, you will be dismissed. This arises from the provision being used to threaten staff who are on sick leave with outdated medical information. NSUPE isn’t saying that HPL couldn’t dismiss an employee for being AWOL, we’re just saying that members should be subject to progressive discipline as is the case with every other workplace offense.
Why did you not accept HPL’s wage offer?
NSUPE takes direction from its members, and members have told us they are struggling. Among others, here are some of the reasons that we were unable to come to an agreement over wage proposals.
- Inflation and the rising cost of living – the cost of living in Halifax has gone up exponentially, and like many people in our community, our staff are struggling to meet financial commitments. When we compare our wages to libraries in other cities across the country with similar costs of living, we are already way behind them.
- Changes to the job – aggressive behaviour, verbal threats, and overdoses are on the rise in libraries across the country. We are not getting as many “traditional library” questions anymore. The job has changed to working with people not simply looking for a book, but presenting complex needs/behavioural issues. We need to ensure that members are able to care for themselves first before they are able to care for our communities.
- Strategic Workforce Plan – we underwent the final stage of a strategic reorganization in 2022 (which began in 2017). In order to honor experience in the field and not just education, experience equivalences were created for positions where traditionally, you would need to hold a specific degree. In “honoring” experience, this resulted in a downgrade in pay level for our most common public-facing positions (Service Support and Service Advisors). Most jobs were reclassified down a level as a result, so wages have already been suppressed.
I read on Halifax Public Libraries’ website that members are given generous health and dental benefits. Can you tell me more about this?
Library workers are eligible to opt-in to the health and dental benefits plan if they work more than 40 hours bi-weekly. Unfortunately, unionized library workers have been lumped into HRM’s non-union health and dental plan with all directors and managers (unlike HRM’s inside workers).
What this means is that the amount of premiums paid by HPL is dependent on whether your coverage is just for yourself or for your whole family, and upon which level of coverage you want (there are three tiers). The formula for determining how much HPL pays towards your premiums is connected to your annual income–the more money you make, the more HPL pays towards your premiums. Our lowest paid workers receive the least money from HPL to cover their premiums. This means that many can’t afford to opt in to the benefits plan, or if they do, they have the lowest amount of coverage (20%).
NSUPE worked to have this changed in this round of bargaining, but were met with indifference at the table because it was too “difficult” to change this with HRM. In the interest of securing a deal, we decided to concede on this so we could focus on wages in hopes that solid wage gains may help members opt in to the plan.
I also read that HPL is willing to move certain levels of workers up on the wage scale. Is this true?
Yes, after months of back and forth, HPL finally agreed with NSUPE on August 25 to move clerks on to the wage scale at Level 1. Right now, clerks are not on the wage scale and are paid $1.25 above minimum wage ($16.45).
In 2022 workers underwent a strategic reorganizing which resulted in new jobs for all members. All jobs were reclassified. Those members who traditionally worked in circulation and at our old circulation desks were retitled as “Service Support” during that process. Unfortunately, when they re-evaluated this job, the changes in educational requirements (done to “honour” staff experience and provide ability to move in the organization) moved this job from pay level 3 down to pay level 2. Now, two years later, HPL is offering to move this position back up to level 3 on the pay scale but only if NSUPE agrees that HPL can add duties to the job. This is not a raise. This is yet another re-classification.
Do library workers get the same raises as their managers?
Traditionally that has been the case unless NSUPE has settled for a dollar amount. This happened in 2018 and 2019 where members were given $0.50 an hour. Management gave themselves 2% raises for each of those years.
The exception to this is HPL’s CEO, Asa Kachan, whose wages have increased by at least 17% since 2019 from $166 945 to $195 233.
Comparatively, if NSUPE did agree to HPL’s wage offer, Service Support staff wages will have increased from $33,000 to $40,510 over the last 5 years (a $7000 increase over 5 years) and this would be moving Service Support staff up from pay level 2 to 3 (keeping in mind that that would mean agreeing to additional duties).
All this to say that percentage wages can be deceiving as they’re not representative of a dollar amount. Unfortunately, percentage raises also increase the ever growing gap between pay levels.