Local 3350’s strong contract follows strong action

As they began bargaining a new contract in early 2024, Rockford Public Library workers’ biggest priority was to expand health and safety procedures and secure a stronger voice for workers in the creation of those procedures.

In the library’s downtown branch, workers have to respond to a variety of physical and mental health emergencies. Yet they’d never received formal training on how to properly respond to those emergencies. They’d never even had a fire drill.

Management resisted all of the union’s attempts to secure more training and clearer safety procedures. When the Winnebago County Health Department offered to do a free training for library workers on how to use naloxone, commonly known as Narcan—a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses—management said no.

Tired of management rebuffing their attempts to keep themselves and their patrons safe, AFSCME members asked the health department to organize a union-sponsored naloxone training for library workers and any other members of the community who wanted to attend.

The training sent a clear message to management: Stronger safety measures would be coming to the Rockford Public Library—and AFSCME members would do it themselves if they must.

Soon after, union members took to the streets before a meeting of the library board to make clear that the establishment of a health and safety committee needed to be in the final contract.

“We took action—effective action,” AFSCME Local 3350 president Megan Yordy said. “It wasn’t just a picket. We were there to talk about the issues we were dealing with. We’re information professionals. Once the public found out what we were talking about, they said, ‘Of course you guys deserve this.’

“We’re a female-dominated sector, so people tend to leave us by the wayside,” Yordy continued. “It was so great to see this public support come out for us. It’s part of the wave of renewed union support we’re seeing across the nation. People are thankful for what we do. And when they show their thanks, workers feel more acknowledged and appreciated.”

Library patrons and the broader community stood by their side every step of the way.

“We’ve been flabbergasted by the public support for us,” Yordy said. “Our picket was mostly patrons. A lot of the public came out to the Narcan training.”

In the final contract ratified by members, library workers will see their wages rise 23% on average, with some of the lowest paid workers seeing raises of as much as 30%. Employees who regularly translate for patrons will receive an additional $46 per pay period, and any employee who works more than one Sunday in a month will receive an additional $25 stipend for each day worked in addition to their overtime pay.

They won a first-ever parental leave policy for birthing and non-birthing employees as well as in the case of an adoption.

And the icing on the cake: They accomplished their highest priority of establishing a labor-management health and safety committee so workers will have a voice in the creation and implementation of new safety procedures.

The Local 3350 bargaining committee included Yordy, Marie Barcelona, Michelle Dominguez, Erin Stock, Amy Pfeifer, Jean Lythgoe and Janella Harper Herbig, and was led by Council 31 Staff Representative Sara Dorner.