Beaverton Shelvers Want to Wear Jeans

SarahL writes “I was in Oregon this morning and saw this story in the Oregonian. Basically the shelvers who are paid a paltry $12.22 an hour want to be able to wear jeans to work, or get extra money for clothes. Apparently their stuffy mayor describes himself as a “pretty button-up guy” and prefers the city’s rule against indoor employees wearing jeans at work. The city workers union, Local 503, thinks otherwise and is negotiating with the city on behalf of the shelvers. Here’s the full story from March 19th issue of the Oregonian:”

March 20, 2007 by birdie Uncategorized 5

Lee Hadden says:

March 20, 2007 at 7:02 pm

Shelf Elf Blues
Its a shame the Beaverton mayor is such a control freak, and demands a “class defintion” uniform for the library workers. I agree with his desire to have the library look professional, but these are not professional librarians- they are blue collar workers. Certainly trash collectors and indoor/outdoor maintenance workers for the city don’t have these restrictions- the only reason the library staff have these restrictions is because the mayor confuses them with the librarians.
I think its time the town got a new mayor, one who isn’t so class conscious or such a snob.

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GregS* says:

March 20, 2007 at 11:48 pm

paltry?
12 bucks an hour for just shelving books? Hardly. Its a minimum wage job at best.

Hadden brings up a good point however concerning their status. A lot of pages get stuck in the role of quick ‘reference’ service and basic customer service. Some libraries prohibit that altogether, some don’t. If this library doesn’t then that may justify $12 bucks an hour but it also is a good reason for no jeans (which are more expensive then plain pants anyway!)

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foetry says:

March 21, 2007 at 4:38 pm

Jeans? It’s the Northwest!
Of course jeans should be acceptable, and encouraged. I moved to Portland from the button-down South ten years ago and was told by the Dean that someone needed to explain the dresscode. She was joking because I was the only one in a tie. A shelver should not have a dresscode. That’s ridiculous. It’s not like Beaverton is some cultural Mecca.

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Emily Lloyd says:

March 21, 2007 at 9:46 pm

$12.22 paltry? I wish.
I’m all for wearing jeans. My eyes bulged at pages getting a “paltry” $12.22 an hour, though–I’m an Associate Librarian with an undergrad degree and seven years of experience in reference at both public and academic libraries, and I make $14.00/hr in a very busy, metropolitan, highly-ranked public library system.

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infodiva says:

March 21, 2007 at 10:55 pm

They should be able to wear jeans…
but I made $15.00 an hour as a part-time librarian–with years of experience! And, I couldn’t wear jeans either.

$12.00 is pretty good for shelving, although they really shouldn’t have a strict dress code.

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