Unionized employees at the Windsor Public Library have ratified a new contract, but just barely.
The nearly 70 workers, represented by CUPE Local 2067.01, voted just 51 percent in favour of the new agreement during a ratification vote on Sunday, according to Ward 4 Councillor Mark McKenzie, Chair of the Windsor Public Library Board of Directors.
The agreement has also been ratified by the board but still needs to be passed by Windsor City Council.
The deal will see the city expand Sunday service to all of the Windsor Public Library branches, which was a key issue in negotiations.
McKenzie says no hours are being cut; hours and staff will actually be increasing without a major budget increase.
"It's not absolutely net zero, but it's pretty close to net zero," he says. "We have a reserve as well at the Windsor Public Library Board, so we will be going into the reserves a little bit to cover this. But it will also be addressed year-over-year; it always comes to council for approval."
Currently, a Sunday schedule is only available between September and May at three branches: Central, Budimir, and Riverside.
McKenzie says they will be adding around three extra staff members to meet the Sunday service.
"Every library is going to have the exact same hours moving forward. So you're not going to have to guess if this library is open on Sundays; is this one closed on Sundays? We're going to have consistent hours across the board; that way, you'll know if it's 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; all branches are open 8-to-5 on Tuesdays; all branches are 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, for example," he says.
McKenzie says they listened to the concerns of the residents of Windsor who asked for Sunday hours.
"We want libraries to be open on Sundays when we can actually go and attend those libraries. You see, Sundays are busy all over the place. You go to the grocery store on Sundays; you go to Walmart or Costco. Sundays are the busiest day of the week," he says. "We saw that of the three branches that were open on Sundays, they were actually having a lot of turnout there; it was some of the busiest days."
The Sunday hours at all Windsor Public Library branches are expected to begin in January 2025.