Delaware County District Library employees seeking to unionize submitted a petition to the DCDL Board of Directors asking for neutrality Tuesday after they say Library Director Bryan Howard expressed “anti-union” sentiments at a staff in-service meeting on Monday.
Collin Clemons, an outreach associate for DCDL and one of the organizers of unionization efforts, spoke at the library’s Board of Directors meeting Tuesday and presented a petition signed by more than 50 library employees asking for the board to remain neutral throughout the election process.
“We feel it important to address this because yesterday at our staff in-service, Bryan held a mandatory anti-union meeting that violated this board’s commitment to neutrality,” Clemons said Tuesday. “While he may have said he was only presenting facts, staff felt intimidated by his insinuation that there will be layoffs on account of us banding together to form our union.”
Clemmons said the “anti-union” meeting also requires the library to give equal time to the organizing committee for them to speak with staff.
Howard spoke at the board meeting and said the in-service was already scheduled before employees announced their intention to unionize over the summer, and he said the regular meeting is always mandatory for staff. Howard said he gave an hour-long update on the state of affairs at the library, and he had polled employees ahead of time to hear what topics they wanted him to discuss.
Howard said the main topic selected was 2025.
“Two things are happening in 2025: We are trying to (pass a levy) to get additional funding for the library and the staff is trying to unionize,” Howard said. “That is two big things that will be happening in 2025. That was what the topic of my discussion was. At no point did I make, say, or insinuate that employees would be laid off if they tried to unionize. That is bogus in every sense of the word. The only time the word layoff came out of my mouth was when we were talking about possibly not getting a new levy passed down the road … after at least two attempts of going on the ballot. That was the only time the words layoff came out of my mouth.”
Youth Services Librarian Claire Ehmann said she was “tired and disappointed” after the in-service meeting.
“A lot of my coworkers echoed the same sentiment,” Ehmann said Wednesday. “We’re disappointed that the board would lie to us and pledge neutrality when they had no intention of doing so. But we’re not worried. We deserve to have a say in decisions made on our behalf, and we plan on winning our election.”
Ehmann said she does not believe the library has remained neutral.
“At this meeting they said they wouldn’t be after they claimed they would be previously,” Ehmann said. “Management claims they want to give the ‘other side of the story’ and tried to achieve this by using anti-union talking points. This all confirms they will not remain neutral.”
Megan Shoemaker, an adult services librarian at the Liberty Branch and member of the organizing committee, added Tuesday that the meeting made her feel “uncomfortable.”
The petition submitted to the board by employees seeking a union said they would find “written or oral communication from management about the union with anyone in the bargaining unit, regardless of whether or not they are a union supporter (including in) group or individual meetings” to violate the board’s position of neutrality.
At the board meeting, Howard argued against the employee’s definition of neutrality.
“Neutrality is not putting something up for an election and giving one side of a story,” Howard said. “Just because I present facts on the other side, that does not mean I am coercing or doing anything. … I provided facts about what the steps would be in a union process … because the union people are not telling them this information. I’m the one that is having to tell them because their communication is so poor.”
DCDL’s Communications Coordinator Nicole Fowles said Wednesday that the library was following the definitions of neutrality that have been set by the State Employee Relations Board (SERB) and the Ohio Revised Code.
Howard said Tuesday that he has the staff’s best interest in mind.
“I’m here with the staff here every day,” Howard said. “From Sept. 1, 2022, I’m the one that’s had the staff’s best interest in mind in everything I do. This notion that (Ohio Federation of Teachers) is coming in and cares so much about the employees is bogus. They are not here every day.”
Howard said “there was no intimidation” at the in-service meeting.
“I flat out said at the beginning of this message (to staff), ‘I am not trying to sway you one way or the other but it is not fair to not have both sides of the story. I don’t care how you vote. I want you to vote, and I want you to have all the knowledge,’” Howard said.
Howard added he cares about staff and if they choose to unionize, he will respect it and negotiate in good faith, but he’s not going to “roll over” during the election process.
“I’m not going to sit here and not inform my staff,” Howard said. “I’m not going to tell them how to vote. I’m not going to threaten anybody, intimidate anybody. I’m going to present the facts and then I want my employees, as librarians who work in this wonderful system, to take that information and do whatever they feel is in their heart and I will respect it.”
The State Employee Relations Board has not had a meeting since DCDL employees announced their intention to unionize. Their next meeting is Nov. 14 at 10 a.m.
According to SERB’s website detailing the election process, mail-ballot kits will be mailed to the eligible voters and ballots must be returned to SERB’s office within a 14-day polling period. Ballots will be counted on an agreed upon date, and there will be a 10-day post-election objection period. SERB will issue a directive certifying the election’s results and if the employee organization prevails, SERB will also certify the union.
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.
