Cuyahoga County Library Employees Picket, Claiming Unfair Wages and Treatment

The Parma-Snow Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library will see picketing librarians this Friday afternoon. Credit: CCPL

Dozens of librarians recently took to the sidewalks to protest what they claim are unfair wage compensation from management at the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

The Services Employees International Union, the body that represents some 450 unionized library staff across the county’s system, had been in new contract negotiations with CCPL’s attorneys since January.

After attempting to achieve a “fair” contract a dozen times, apparently one that grants librarians higher pay, CCPL told the union on May 23rd that it felt the parties had reached an impasse on open remaining items.

“Libraries like to say they are ‘more than buildings and books.’ The ‘more’ is defined by people, and the library does not work without them,” Michael Wood, an organizer for SEIU Local 1199, said in a statement. “Yet, the library continues to offer wages that will only put workers further and further behind.”

The union is suggesting the library, with its national prominence and eight-figure taxpayer largesse, has the wherewithal to pay employees, including library staff such as branch assistants, circulation clerks, delivery drivers, selectors, and graphic designers, more in line, however, with today’s adjustment for inflation.

A “severe erosion” of wages in recent years, the union said, has led to a slant in buying power “by as much as 35 percent.”

All while, the union claimed, CCPL executive Tracy Strobel is being “paid almost $80,000 a year more than Governor DeWine.” (About $245,000 a year.)

In a response from CCPL, the library system said that it had reached out to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services to try and remedy the impasse, which seems to have stemmed from a disagreement on what fair pay means.

“While bargaining in good faith, CCPL has agreed in principle to a significant number of union proposals with an eye toward fairness, equity, and providing competitive wage packages,” a spokesperson for the library wrote to Scene.

“CCPL strives to be a leader in our market regarding wages and benefits while continuing to be good stewards of our tax dollars.”

Over the past decade, whether as deputy director or CEO, Strobel has often attributed the library system’s plaudits to its attention to community needs and an ongoing reliance on what they make out to be a reliable worker base.

“No library has ever had a 12-year run like we are enjoying now,” Strobel told the Plain Dealer in 2022, after it was awarded the Library Journal’s top ranking for the twelfth year. “It is a testament to our organization’s deep commitment to providing excellent library service, our dedicated staff, and the tremendous support we receive from our communities.”

She expressed a similar reliance two years previous, to the Plain Dealer in 2020: “I truly feel we have the best library staff and library supporters in America right here in Cuyahoga County.”

Wood, along with CCPL, did not comment on what exact wage increases the union’s demanding, or how many unionized librarians were affected by the terms of the new bargaining agreement.