CITYWATCH PPL fights union drive BY BRIAN C. JONE

The Providence Public Library is opposing the drive by a union to organize up to 90 librarians and clerks, and it has hired a Massachusetts management consultant for advice. "Our position is that a union is not in the best interests of the library or the staff," says Tonia Mason, a library spokeswoman. "Among other things, it will increase costs for employees as well as for the library. We do not believe it will add value to the organization."

The United Service & Allied Workers of Rhode Island charged earlier that the library had hired the Devlin Group, saying the company’s Web site has an anti-labor flavor.

The union drive was begun after two successive years of cutbacks by the library, which contends it needs more government funding — especially from the City of Providence. (Despite its name, the library is a nonprofit, private organization, but it gets a major part of its’ funding from the city and the state.)

Union supporters had hoped that the library administration would take a relaxed response to the organizing drive by agreeing to a process through which the union could be established without a government-supervised election. The Providence City Council has endorsed that approach, in which the union would be recognized if a majority of workers signed cards requesting union representation.

More commonly, card-signing begins the unionization process. If enough workers sign, an election is held during which potential union members vote for or against the union — often after a campaign in which union supporters and management try to persuade would-be voters.

Karen McAninch, the union’s business agent, says the union got wind that the library was using a consultant when a worker who supports the union drive obtained a business card for the Devin Group, whose Web site says is headed by Mark E. Devin. When I telephoned a number listed on the Web site, Devin answered, but said that he couldn’t hear my end of the conversation. Subsequent calls were not returned.

The Web site says, "Non-union employers should always be concerned about union organizing [emphasis in original]. Take the necessary steps to insure you can maintain a non-union environment."

McAninch calls it a poor use of library funds to hire a consultant after the library laid off staff members last year, and proposes cutting operating hours throughout its 10-branch system this year.

Mason, in an e-mail, says workers have both the right to join a union and to choose not to be represented by one. As to why Devin is being asked for advice, she writes, "Union organizing is complex and involves many legal issues. We have employed a consultant to ensure that the process is correct, fair and that the rights of all employees and the organization are recognized."

Last year, the United Service & Allied Workers contended the library was acting in an anti-union way when it eliminated about a half-dozen unionized janitorial jobs, utsourcing the work to a non-union contractor. But the union later withdrew its complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, saying it appeared that government officials seemed to feel the library was acting out of allowable economic concerns, not anti-union motives. The union continues to represent four maintenance workers at the library.