Salt Lake City librarians are seeking to unionize, joining the majority of the city's workforce in the process.
SALT LAKE CITY — Christina Ordonez and other librarians within the Salt Lake City Public Library System began to talk about their work conditions about a year ago, finding their stories to be similar across branches.
Word of the movement slowly trickled among library workers, many of whom support the idea because of "long-standing issues" related to the job, including safety concerns and below-average wages, according to fellow union organizers. Some had become fed up with either inaccessible or expensive health care, while others didn't like that the staff felt excluded from decisions made by library system leaders.
If that doesn't happen within the next week, workers will begin a process to vote on whether to unionize, said Ivy Smith, library assistant and one of the organizers behind the Salt Lake City Public Library Workers United. She said more than half of the 345 city library employees have already signed the petition, indicating they would have the votes to form a union.
Board officials listened to several supporters of the measure but did not vote on or discuss any resolution during Monday's meeting, as they have not had any time to review the situation. " top priority is to care for each other and library leadership is looking at this as an opportunity to learn more about additional ways we can make our organization an even better place to work," officials added.
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