UAW Local 2300 Professional Staff Association/Tompkins County Public Library | Bargaining Day Four

Attached above is this full update in it's original format

April 9, 2025

2-5:00 pm

TCPL UAW PSA Siblings,

Our fourth session of PSA bargaining update:

Management Attendees: Peter Jones, outside counsel; Tonya VanCamp, TCPL Business Manager; Susan Currie, Interim Director

Labor Attendees: Christine Johnson, President UAW Local 2300; John Tavares, incoming President UAW Local 2300; Lonnie Everett, UAW Region 9 International Representative; Asia Bonacci, Jeremy Jordan, Regina DeMauro, Joyce Wheatley, UAW PSA Bargaining Team.

Observer from UAW SSA: Shelby Buche

The UAW PSA team is committed to open and transparent bargaining and agrees to give members regular updates. The team also agrees to negotiate only when ¾ of the PSA negotiating team members are present.

Management presented a cleaned up redline copy of their proposed changes to the contract. View it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LwCMLx7cEYf1I44Eu9ICq8RnuWxW-NWI/view?usp=sharing 

UAW PSA team and Management discussed the proposals 4A, 4D, 4E, 4F, 4I, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6F and 7, presented at previous bargaining sessions. Management had previously rejected UAW PSA's first and second proposals for 4I and now agreed to the first proposal.

4I first proposal: Association representative or another appointed member may attend the monthly Board of Trustees meeting without loss of pay. 

4I second proposal: The Library agrees to record and make publicly available audio/visual recordings within 2 weeks of the monthly Board of Trustees meeting. 

Both UAW PSA team and Management agreed to caucus to discuss the compromises that arose through the discussion. 

UAW PSA team agreed to TA (tentative agreement) 4A with Management's language after confirming that "familial status" includes pregnancy. UAW PSA team agreed to TA 4F. 

Both parties reconvened and UAW PSA informed Management that they accept Articles 4A and 4F which was then circulated to be initialed by all parties. UAW PSA proposed to maintain current contract language for 4D, 4E, 4I.

UAW PSA shared that they could not address article 7 without answers to a previous Request For Information regarding the Forework digital timecard system. Management provided a sheet of answers to some questions from the RFI and verbally answered other questions from the RFI. Management will not turn on the geolocation feature that could track employees who download the app to their personal devices. Forework will use geofencing, which requires staff to be on-site to clock in and out. UAW PSA expressed concerns about how staff who perform outreach will clock in or out if their workday begins or ends with outreach visits. Management said that staff are able to manually change any punch time with department head approval; staff can clock in when they reach the library building and then manually adjust their workday to reflect outreach hours. Management presented the list of security certifications that Forework possesses which other similar software does not. Management explained that timekeeping for payroll purposes will maintain the current 15 minute time blocks rather than counting each minute so there will be a 7 minute grace period on either side. UAW PSA expressed concerns that the rollout of Forework could be a potential violation of the current contract and that the decision was made without Labor/Management consultation. Management acknowledged they could have been more collaborative but insisted that all parties must look forward instead of focusing on the past, which cannot be changed. PSA UAW had additional concerns regarding the usage of AI; Management was unaware of the AI features and is communicating with Forework to get answers.

There were additional discussions between UAW PSA and Management on 6B, 6C, 6D, and 6D3. UAW PSA proposed to maintain current contract language for 6D4 and 6F. Management stated they have an additional proposal for 6F that will be forthcoming at a future bargaining session. The UAW PSA team presented Management with the Memorandum of Agreement that was signed by UAW and received by management on February 6 to update the schedule of paid and unpaid closures for 2025, along with a print out of the email thread of communication between both parties. The MOA was then signed by UAW PSA and SSA stewards; Management kept the document to review and sign. Note: the schedule of paid and unpaid closures for 2025 included in the attached document is different from the MOA.

Management introduced new language for 6D3, which UAW PSA agreed to, which was then circulated to be initialed by all parties. Management agreed to maintain current contract language for 6D4.

Management and the UAW PSA team then discussed additional dates for bargaining. The next date for bargaining is Friday, April 25th from 2-5pm and Wednesday, April 30th from 2-5pm. 

TA’d Articles:

4) RECIPROCAL RIGHTS

Current language:

4.A.The Library and the Association will administer their obligations under this contract in a manner which shall be fair and impartial to all employees and shall not discriminate against any employee by reason of race, color, sex, religion, age, marital status, national origin, disability, ex-offender status, Vietnam Era Veteran status, sexual orientation.

Change to:

4. A. The Library and the Association will administer their obligations under this contract in a manner which shall be fair and impartial to all employees and shall not discriminate against any employee by reason of race, color, sex, religion, age, marital status, national origin, disability, ex-offender status, Vietnam Era Veteran status, military status, sexual orientation, citizenship or immigration status, gender identity or expression, predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status, or status as a victim of domestic violence.

Current language:

4.F. The Association shall have the right to post notices and communications on the bulletin boards maintained on the premises and in the facilities of the library, subject to the approval of such notices by the Library Director.

Change to:

4.F. The Association shall have the right to post notices and communications on the bulletin boards maintained on the premises and in the facilities of the library, subject to the approval of such notices by the Library Director, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.

New language

4. I. Association representative or another appointed member may attend the monthly Board of Trustees meeting without loss of pay.

6) WORK WEEK

Current language:

D. 3. Sunday hours for employees of the Library will be in addition to those worked during the regular work week, Monday through Saturday.

New language:

D. 3. With department head approval, Sunday hours may be calculated within employees' regular work week or in addition to their regular hours. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Because the changes proposed by Management may be difficult to follow, UAW PSA negotiating team members have provided a summation of the attached above document as follows:

• Under Reciprocal Rights: specifies only one steward to appear on employee’s behalf.
• Under LIBRARY HOURS Weekday closing – Library strikes that any change/agreement must be negotiated with Union
• They limit the number of hours the PSA can use to 35 total per calendar year for all members - A 1-hour PSA meeting attended by all PSA members would take up 14 hours. After 35 hours, any union activity, such as labor/management meetings, grievances, bargaining, etc., would be unpaid and off work hours.
• They strike language about increases in compensation or benefits being retroactive to January 1st, 2025, meaning that any increases in pay/stipends/time off will only be recognized from the date the contract as signed and we will receive nothing retroactively.
• Longevity stipend: Employee would forfeit stipend if separated from the library prior to anniversary date. E.g. your anniversary date is May 15 but you separate from library on May 1st – all forfeited instead of pro-rated.
• Professional membership fees shall no longer be reimbursed for conference presenters.
• They strike the annual $600 professional stipend
• They strike all language regarding compensatory time.
• They strike language that allows staff to change paid time off to sick leave if they fall ill during vacation.
• They strike unpaid medical leave and unpaid educational leave.
• Employees may be fired for taking unpaid leave.
• Full time work week shall be 35 hours, part time work shall be fewer than 35 hours per week. They strike that the library shall take into consideration reasonable individual needs when scheduling.
• Sunday hours would only be eligible for 1.5x pay if the employee works over 35 hours that week (which mean PT staff would never get it).

• They strike that training shall occur during the regular work week M-S for new employees, meaning that new employees could be asked to come in after close, on Sundays, Holidays, or any time asked by management.
• They strike that the Library and the Association must mutually agree to any changes in hours for Sundays in July and August.
• They strike that Association members will not be required to perform any of the job responsibilities or duties normally performed by Tompkins County cleaners or security services, including without limitation cleaning, opening, and closing the building. This means that staff could be asked to take on custodial or security tasks, as well as locking/securing the building on Sundays.
• They strike summer Saturdays x1.5 pay.
• They strike work from home.
• They strike inconvenience pay for 6-8pm work.
• They strike all language regarding the use of temporary employees meaning that temporary workers could be used continuously for all positions.
• They strike all language concerning promotions/reclassifications/vacancy posting in Section 10.
• Paid Family Medical Leave would be reduced from 100% wage to 0%, as management is proposing opting out of PFML entirely. You would only be eligible for Federal Family and Medical Leave, which is unpaid and more restrictive.

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) | U.S. Department of Labor The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. www.dol.gov

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• Professional membership fees shall no longer be reimbursed for conference attendees.
• Employees must enroll in Go Ithaca, regardless of cost, to receive reimbursement for bus travel.
• Path to promotion language would be struck from the contract
• Section 75 of Civil Service Law would be removed from the contract, making it potentially ungrievable. 

The UAW PSA Bargaining Team was notified today at around 12:35 p.m. that the 2 p.m. bargaining session scheduled for today, April 25, was canceled due to illness.