Champaign Public Library employees kick off campaign to form a union with AFSCME

Workers at the Champaign Public Library marked Labor Day by announcing their decision to form a union with AFSCME Council 31.

When certified, the Champaign Public Library Workers Union/AFSCME will represent more than 100 frontline CPL employees.

In a public letter workers released announcing their decision to form a union, they said they want to create stable and sustainable paths to ensure they can continue serving their community to the best of their ability.

“We love the Champaign Public Library, and consider it an honor to be a part of such a vital community institution. As a part of our love for CPL, we want to continue building our capacity to provide excellent service in a sustainable way, and in order to do this, the current climate within the library must be improved,” workers wrote in the public letter. 

Workers also say they are organizing to achieve better wages and benefits, advancement opportunities, sustainable staffing, and increased accessibility for both staff and visitors.

For Danotra Brown, a 35-year library employee, it’s simple: Forming their union is about demanding respect.

“We want a say,” Brown said. “We want management to know that we work hard, and we want to be appreciated and respected.”

Brown has worked with the same customers since she started working at the library in the 1990s. Working with those same people all those years has taught her that consistency matters, and the high staff turnover the library has experienced in recent years is something she wants to fix through their union.

Elise Feltman is a children’s librarian at the Douglas Branch, which serves the city’s east side. She loves working with the community and “seeing how much of a difference we make in people’s lives every day.”

While they hope their union will strengthen their bonds with the community, Feltman says their efforts to build a better future at the library is already strengthening the bonds between employees.

“We’re all feeling like we’re part of a team, part of something bigger,” Feltman said. “It’s exciting to know that we’re laying the foundation for the next generation of people who are coming into the library.”