OCPL Update: March 12, 2025

Dear OCEA member,

We’re writing to provide you with an update on the important issues facing OCPL workers and how OCEA has been addressing those issues.

Starting in early 2024 a Labor Management Committee (LMC) was established to proactively address the issues facing OCPL workers.  In the past decade, library service has changed. These changes were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and are seen daily in library branches across Orange County.

An increase in unhoused people, drug use, and other societal hardships have created an untenable work situation for Orange County Public Libraries (OCPL) staff.

After meeting for over a year—and countless attempts to make change—the LMC and OCEA representatives reached an impasse. Management was unable or unwilling to address these issues, and we were forced to bring these issues directly to the County Board of Supervisors!

Members of the OCPL LMC (Courtney Kesinger, Andres Garcia, Jesse Lopez, and Amber Zuniga) and OCEA staff (Alisha Greene, Donika Nunez, Tim Steed) met with members of the Board of Supervisors in four of the five current offices. We asked for improvements around Safety, Transfers, and Staffing.

UPDATE

As a result of our education efforts and sharing the stories of front-line workers the LMC was restarted with a renewed commitment from County Management to work collaboratively and creatively in the LMC. Here is a full rundown of what happened at the last meeting. Your voices are being heard!

The meeting included representatives from OCPL management, County HR, OCEA representatives, and your LMC team! Here are the issues we discussed:

• Safety Concerns: Safety issues were a major topic, with members citing concerns about assaults, stalking, and inadequate responses to these threats. Over 200 incidents were reported in a six-month period.

• Communication Issues: There were significant communication problems between library staff and management, with staff feeling that their concerns were not being heard or adequately addressed.

• Staff Rotations: Staff rotations were implemented without utilizing the transfer list, causing disruptions and dissatisfaction among employees. The rotations negatively impacted staff morale and community relationships.

• Impact on Community: The community was adversely affected by frequent staff rotations, which hindered the ability of staff to build and maintain relationships with patrons.

• Management's Perspective: Management acknowledged that they might not have fully understood the LMC space and admitted to a learning curve in handling staff concerns. They expressed a willingness to improve communication and collaboration.

• Suggestions for Improvement: Suggestions included better communication from management, more transparency, and allowing branch managers more authority to make decisions, especially regarding safety.

• Specific Incidents: Examples of specific incidents, such as a bank robbery and power outages, were discussed to highlight the need for better protocols and quicker responses to safety threats.

There was a strong call for collaboration between staff and management to address ongoing issues and improve the work environment. Plans were made to schedule further meetings to continue discussions and find solutions to the issues raised.

We are cautiously optimistic that this renewed commitment to the LMC will yield results.

If you have any issues that you need addressed in the LMC, reach out to one of the staff leads listed above.

Please continue to read your updates from OCEA, because the better informed we are collectively, the stronger we are together.

In Solidarity,

OCEA

Publication Date: March 12, 2025