On Saturday, June 8, the Mississauga Library Workers Union, CUPE local 1989, held a public event to raise awareness about the current working conditions they have to deal with.
The workers united at Mississauga Valley Park, next to the community centre and library. They stood by a large teal food truck, holding CUPE banners and waving flags, and handed out coffee and pastries to anyone who joined or passed by. For the children, they had colouring books that showed how different workers in the Peel district help their communities.
Library workers are struggling
Library workers in Mississauga are asking for the support of the community because they are facing difficulties simply trying to get by in the city. The union is fighting for fair wages, adequate vacation time, and proper benefits for their part-time staff.
As Laura Fenech, president of CUPE 1989, states:
“A large portion of our membership is part time and so we’re hoping to achieve improvements in this collective agreement. It’s really unfortunate that a lot of our members can no longer afford to live in the city that they work in. We are trying to ensure that our part time members have the same benefits available to them as other part time employees in the city. They love working for the library but some members are now at the point where they can’t afford groceries and are utilizing food banks.”
Vice-president of CUPE 1989, Morgan Speare, added:
“I, for example, am a full time worker and have lived in the city my entire life. I have worked for the city for 19 years, the library for 12, and I have to work overtime every single Sunday to pay my rent and to buy groceries. I’m sure this is something that a lot of people are facing right now — it’s a really tough time for everyone — but I just want to be able to live my life in my community.”
A problem facing the library system in the Peel region is low employee retention. Due to the scarcity of full-time and permanent opportunities, a lot of members leave to work in other library systems. Making the problem even worse, full-time positions are being replaced with part-time staff. This creates a problem for the workers because the benefits are entirely different. According to Fenech:
“The benefits our part-timers get are not even comparable to what our full-timers do. It’s really unfortunate that we’re not able to keep good workers – people who the city has spent many years investing in. They have to leave because they can’t secure a full-time permanent position and they can’t afford to live here.”
The problem also includes full-time workers who are hired in temporary positions, functionally doing the same amount of work as permanent workers without getting the same benefits. As Fenech explains:
“When our members are full-time temporary, they are considered part-time by the city, so they don’t get paid vacation, they don’t get paid sick time, but they work the same hours without the benefits.”
Benefits are important for library workers because their jobs can be quite physical, necessitating physiotherapists and orthotists. Library workers are pushing carts filled with books, lugging equipment around, and standing at desks for long periods of time. Work-permit holders are not covered by OHIP, so they rely on benefits from their jobs for health insurance. In cases where temporary or part-time workers are not insured by their workplace, they might have to pay for these services out-of-pocket.
The workers feel undervalued
Library Services were ranked second on Citizen Satisfaction in a city-wide survey. This is in sharp contrast to the respect CUPE 1989 feels they are getting from their employers.
Library work is a female-dominated field in Mississauga, and the CUPE 1989 leadership says they are “just asking to be treated fairly and in the same manner as our male dominated units throughout the city as well as the non-union.”
As Morgan Speare notes:
“While many city services have a high number of female employees at the city of Mississauga — which is fantastic compared to where we used to be — the library is overwhelmingly female. I think 80% of our membership are female, but they tend to be workers of color or recent immigrants too.”
Despite this, the CUPE leaders say that leadership positions tend to go to men or people with higher education. Members without a master’s degree or university, college, or trades certification are mostly women, trying to make rent, and trying to buy groceries. These are the people CUPE 1989 is mostly concerned about. Speare says that people in positions like her (full-time and salaried) are not the majority of the membership, and those are the ones who are being harmed the most by the lack of acknowledgement of the cost of living in Mississauga for workers.
“We just want our members to feel valued by our employer in the same way that the community values us,” said French.
How this affects the community
According to Fenech, the library is utilized by a lot of community members as “one of the only places you can go in the community where there isn’t a hand in your pocket looking for some sort of financial gain.” The only library service that costs any expense to community members is printing — all of the programs offered are free, along with computer, scanning, and internet services. If the conditions for workers in Mississauga do not change, libraries might. Speare explains:
“I love libraries, my community, and the work that I do. However, libraries don’t work unless we do and we can’t continue to work for the library unless we’re treated with respect and we’re compensated for the hard work and effort we put in.
Even low employee retention affects the services that community members get. Having employees with years of experience means having employees who have a connection to the community. These employees get to know the people in the community, such as the families, the newcomers, the seniors, the students, and everyone else who uses the facilities. As Speare notes:
“When we can’t survive with what we’re being paid on, we leave and all that knowledge is lost to the library. It cannot be bought back in the future. It cannot necessarily be re-trained because the people who do the training also leave for affordability reasons. It’s the community impact of low employee retention.”
What can the community do to help?
CUPE 1989 is trying to garner support for a fair and equitable collective agreement for their workers. They are looking for community support. Speare expresses her views on the community:
“We know that they love us — we see them every day. We talk to people in our communities about their problems and their concerns. We hear them out, and I just really hope that Mississaugans are willing to do the same for us.”
The CUPE 1989 leadership is asking community members to sign an e-action to show their support. Laura Fenech says that it will put pressure on their employer and show them that they have the public’s support and that they will continue to fight for a fair and equitable contract. This letter will go to council and make its way to upper management, who will see that they have the support needed if they have to push further and have labour action.
Morgan Speare mentions:
“We have an election in Mississauga on June 10, for a new mayor (and a new councillor if they live in ward 5). This is a time to speak to the people who are trying to get your vote, who want to be in power, who want to lead the city for the next few years. It’s an opportunity for Mississaugans to communicate what they value and what they want our city to be. If the people come out and have those conversations and talk about how much they value us and our services and want us to be treated fairly, the councillors — I’m confident — will listen to that and make decisions accordingly that treat us the way that we deserve to be treated.”
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