OCPL Safety Update: Sept. 4, 2024

Dear OCEA member,

Thank you to all library members and workplace leaders who attended our online membership meeting Wednesday, Aug. 28. We had many in attendance, including members of our OCPL Labor Management Committee, OCEA staff representatives and OCEA General Manager Charles Barfield.

We started the meeting with a recap of the status of the issues faced by library staff. As you may know, your OCEA labor relations representatives have been working to improve safety and workplace conditions at OCPL since last year through our Labor Management Committee.

Unfortunately, it took us several months to start the LMC, and the department continues to impede progress as members of management continue to pass the decision making to each other, with nobody taking concrete action to make things better for library staff.

Please click here for a full recap of the work we did on the LMC and the requests we made to management regarding safety, rotations, and staffing.

Seeing little movement at the agency level, we have taken our message to the individual offices of the Board of Supervisors. We have already met with Supervisor Katrina Foley to speak on your behalf. OCEA plans to meet with all five offices over the next couple of months.

LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN—SUBMIT YOURS TODAY!

As a next step, we want to show how these issues impact everyone at the public libraries. We are asking each member to write a letter asking how safety, rotations, staffing, or all three, have affected your ability to do your job and help your community.

Ultimately, we want to amplify your voices to the Board of Supervisors and library management to show just how intrusive and disruptive the problems are at the OCPLs.

If you want to sign your name on the letter, please do, but if you want to remain anonymous, that’s okay too! Please address the letter for “To Whom This May Concern,” and include your branch if you feel comfortable.

These letters will be very impactful. The communities you serve are the same these elected officials have vowed to protect. That comes with responsibility. Please do not be afraid to be honest about what your current work situation is like, and how that impacts the community and you. If you fear retaliation, please let us know.

To submit a letter, please contact one of your OCPL LMC members or OCEA representatives Louis Gurrola (lgurrola@ocea.org) or Alisha Greene (agreene@ocea.org). We ask that letters be submitted by Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024.

Please continue to read OCEA emails and stay in contact with your OCEA Stewards. If we consider any additional actions—such as speaking at the Board of Supervisors meeting—we will know you are interested.

Thank you for your continued support in our work to improve safety and working conditions at OCPL.

In Solidarity,

OCEA

Publication Date: September 4, 2024