when we fight, we win!

After over a year of bargaining we finally have an agreement with the City for a 2024-2027 contract. Before getting into the overview, we want to send a sincere and emphatic thank you to everyone who spread the word about our contract struggles, attended standouts, sent letters in support, and provided other words of encouragement to the bargaining team as we worked to negotiate. We did not have to give up or concede a single thing in this contract!

We started this process with four major areas of focus. Here's where we settled with each of them:

Fair Wages

This was likely the most contentious of our battles. We pushed back against the City's offer for a 2026 base wage increase of 2.5%. The City refused to increase this number, and mediation was unlikely to change this. In exchange for accepting their 2.5% proposal in 2026, we asked for a number of financial increases that come out to be nearly the same as the 5% we had requested:

A significant cleaning allowance increase
"Digital Equity Compensation" base wage raise of $1.40 for all staff
Double pay for Sundays
Increase in amount of reimbursement for MBTA passes
Stipend for multilingual employees
"Essential employee" stipend
Increase in Library Assistant wage scale

Health & Safety

Another major concern of ours was health and safety in the workplace. Here are the things we achieved in this contract:

Establishment of a Health & Safety Committee comprised of union members and management to address health and safety concerns in the workplace
Ability for new staff to use up to one week of sick leave prior to having earned it in their probationary period
The Sick Leave Bank will now grant disbursements of sick leave rather than loan days that need to be paid back the following year

Admin Accountability

Despite a lot of pushback, we were able to ensure a few measures of accountability:

Establishment of a working group to review and revise evaluations and expectations of merit positions
Clearer grievance process with updated timeline
While we did not get our proposed anti-harassment/bullying language, there were some additions to this section - once the City's anti-harassment and discrimination policy is out, we will bargain to push for any necessary changes

Fairness in Staffing

In addition to many new benefits in the contract aimed at staff retention, this contract would include:

An updated timeline and expectation for hiring committees when responding to internal candidates
Increase in vacation time for part-time staff
A fair and clear approval timeline for staff who request vacation time
A change to requesting Saturdays off - ensuring if staff are unable to find a swap, all efforts will be made to relieve them of the Saturday
Though we were not able to get mandatory staffing levels put into the contract, we are committed to addressing staffing needs through a staffing committee comprised of union members and Admin

The above summary does not include every change made to the proposed contract. We are very happy for how this turned out, and our membership voted 97% in favor of ratification.

Thank you again for all your support!

The CPLSA stands in solidarity with Somerville Public Library staff speaking out against Mayor Katjana Ballantyne’s decision to fully reinstate a Library employee to his position after years of harassing and verbally abusing co-workers. Harassment and abuse have no place in any workplace and these allegations must be addressed promptly and seriously. Unfortunately, municipal governments are notorious for ignoring such reports and delaying responses, frequently pushing out the survivors of this abuse and thus rewarding the abhorrent behavior. Despite years of reports from staff and patrons alike and the City’s Human Resources Department’s finding that there was “sufficient evidence of violation/s under the City’s Equal Opportunity Policy,” the Mayor reinstated this employee to his position at the West Branch, putting other Library employees and the public back into harm’s way. In a statement that hides behind the confidential nature of personnel matters and blames the union’s protection of its members, Ballantyne’s office attempted to rid themselves of any responsibility or accountability in this situation. This has resulted in the resignation of several Library employees and this trend will doubtlessly continue.

The CPLSA condemns Mayor Ballantyne’s actions and calls on her to truly support City and Library employees by demanding an end to harassment and abuse in the workplace. This includes adequate disciplinary action against those perpetrating abuse and protecting employees from further harassment. We call on Mayor Ballantyne to listen to the voices of Library employees and community members when they demand accountability and justice for Library staff.

This statement is co-signed by:

Cambridge Public Library Staff Association (CPLSA)

Massachusetts Library Staff Association (MLSA) executive board

Abington Library Staff Association (ALSA)

Waltham Public Library Staff Association (WPLSA)

Wayland Library Staff Association (WLSA)

Woburn Library Staff Association (WLSA)

We are fighting for a fair contract

Help us win a fair contract!

The CPLSA represents 100+ employees at the Cambridge Public Library's seven locations.

We are currently bargaining with the City of Cambridge for our 2024-2027 contract:

A living wage: We deserve a wage increase that accounts for the significant cost of living in the area. The City has proposed 3% in 2024, 3.5% in 2025 and 2.5% in 2026. This is not nearly enough.
Full staffing: We deserve more than bare-bones staffing. This means minimum staffing levels AND improving the hiring process. The Library does not believe it has a retention problem, despite the fact that staff departures increase each year.
A healthy and safe workplace: We deserve a workplace free of health and safety hazards. We also need our sick leave and parental leave policies to be updated to keep up with the private sector. The Library actively ignores safety issues in the workplace and refuses to increase paid sick time for staff.
Admin Accountability: We deserve a workplace free from bullying and harassment. We deserve a fair evaluation system and a transparent process for addressing issues with Administration. Staff departures due to issues with managers are a constant problem that Library Administration ignores.

If you would like to support us during this process, please follow us on social media and help spread the word. You can also contact the Cambridge City Council and City Manager to let them know how much you appreciate Library staff.

boardcplsa@gmail.com