Staff at the King County (Wash.) Library System voted December 3 to unionize, approving by 298–157 a proposal to join the Washington State Council of County and City Employees. Calling the election the largest public-sector union vote in memory, council President Chris Dugovich said the results showed that library workers “want to have a say in the workplace” and are seeking security in a period of cutbacks in tax dollars, rising layoffs, and general economic instability.
Library Director Bill Ptacek agreed, telling the December 5 Bellevue Eastside Journal that while the board has kept the system’s salaries and benefits competitive, the passage last year of the tax-limitation Initiative 747, which requires votes for continued funding every two years, “makes everyone very nervous.” Ptacek noted that the unionized maintenance workers have had “a long and good relationship” with the system.
Dugovich told the newspaper negotiations between the staff and the system would begin within 60 days.
The system includes 42 Seattle-area libraries serving over one million residents outside the city. Librarians at Seattle Public Library already belong to the union.
Posted December 9, 2002.