Proposed Contract for Brooklyn, Queens, New York Public Libraries

Anonymous Patron writes “The proposed contract for DC 37 in New York City, which covers library workers at Brooklyn, Queens, and New York Public Libraries, includes a 15% pay cut for new employees (for the first 2 years.) The entry-level librarian salary would be about $27,000. Clerical salaries would be about $21,000. This is appalling.

More at New York Newsday“

April 22, 2004 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. willpie says:
    April 22, 2004 at 10:51 pm

    Glad I don’t work there anymore. . .
    I spent my first 3 years after library school at QBPL, and I can’t really say anything good about it, except that it looks good on my resume (opportunities for advancement are plentiful when nobody wants to work for an organization) and that I learned a great deal about dealing with an administration that maintains an antagnonistic relationship with its branch libraries, pays its people what amounts to a bi-weekly slap in the face, and routinely insinuates that the employees should be grateful to have jobs at all (then wonders why it keeps losing people to Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, CT, and NJ). The HR department really seems to rely on a sort of institutional Stockholm Syndrome to retain employees (especially the paraprofessional staff; they get the extra-special, limited edition steamrolling). Good times.
    I would dearly love to see what would happen if DC37 would strike. But they never would. If you want to see a sad, castrated little shell of a union, you really couldn’t do better than to look at DC37 (just don’t try to see it through the glasses the DC37 optical plan will afford you; you’ll strain your eyes); I reckon that’s why starting pay in the impoverished, rural south is better than starting pay in the most expensive city on the eastern seaboard. You go, DC37!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous Patron says:
    April 22, 2004 at 11:08 pm

    Sounds Like Broward County PL
    Really nasty administrators, low, low, pay in an area that is quite expensive to live in. We even had staff from Queens who told us that the only thing worse about Queens was the complicated timesheet paperwork employees had to fill out to get their pay. Other than that, Broward and Queens systems seem to have taken pages out of the same book in all other matters, especially staff ones.

    The only place that seems slightly worse for employees would be Atlanta Fulton PL (check out http://www.afplwatch.com), but at least they pay the librarians fairly well for all of the aggravation.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous Patron says:
    April 23, 2004 at 6:43 pm

    Re:Sounds Like Broward County PL
    When I was in library school the Queens folks came all the way out to Arizona to interview at the library school. That was a REAL big clue as to how horrible the working conditions must be — going that far afield means everyone local KNOWS not to apply there.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous Patron says:
    April 25, 2004 at 4:35 am

    salary cut in NYC
    I’m slightly less than 2 years in at BPL. I was shocked 2 years ago at the 33K salary. I never would have accepted 27K! Even sharing a 2BR apt in Brooklyn, almost 50% of my pay goes to rent. It’s bad enough that you don’t get any vacation days your first year at all, but there’s not even the possibility of a raise until your 5th year I think. Too bad the suburbs don’t hire very often or I might have to start reverse commuting.

    Reply

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