Workers at the Castlegar & District Public Library have ratified a new agreement with the library board.
Earlier this month, CUPE 2262 and the library board agreed to a four-year contract with wage increases of 1.5 per cent in the first year and two per cent in the following three years. There were also some improvements made to language and benefits.
“Although we had to resort to mediation to reach an agreement on wages and benefits, I’m pleased that our members were able to make some gains,” said CUPE 2262 president Cam McIntosh in a press release.
“We truly, truly value our staff, so we try to do the best we can by them,” said Jean Borsa of the library board and negotiating committee. “Unfortunately we have no way of raising money, that is we’re dependent on donations to run the library from the city, and Area I and Area J. So we’re very limited in what we can do, but we do the best we can and we certainly appreciate our employees.”
The CUPE 2262 sub-local represents seven staff members at the Castlegar library, who “provide frontline library services, order and catalog books, provide technical services, and run all kinds of community programs.”
The new contract is in effect from Jan. 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2018.