CUPE Local 2974 is applauding a move made by Leamington Council. On Monday, council agreed to send a letter to the Essex County Library Board stating Leamington is not in favour of opening Essex County libraries on a rotating basis during the ongoing strike.
Local 2974 spokesperson Lori Wightman says she was a little surprised by Leamington's direction on the issue.
"It shows up that Leamington and their mayors seem to understand that services are more than just opening a building and putting a body behind a desk," says Wightman. "We like this development. We hope that the rest of the municipalities follow suit."
Local 2974 spokesperson Lori Wightman says opening a library is more than just putting someone behind a desk.
"It's about the people that work there and their relationship with the community, each of these workers has built a relationship with members of their community, they're the people that know what your grandma likes to read, they're the people your kids go running to at story time so restoring services is far more than just putting a body behind a desk to check out a book."
The strike hits the six month mark on Sunday. The 58 full and part-time workers walked off the job on June 25th to back contract demands. The workers rejected the board's "final offer" last week.
It was a supervised vote done by the Ontario Labour Relations Board. No new talks are planned.