The Timberland Regional Library (TRL) has agreed to rescind over 80% of the involuntary layoffs that were set to go into effect May 15, the library workers union announced Wednesday night.
Of the 61 planned layoffs, only 25 will go through, TRL confirmed Thursday morning.
TRL is rescinding a total of 36 involuntary layoffs. The 17 employees who chose a voluntary layoff option will still leave employment with TRL on April 30, and the remaining eight involuntary layoffs will go into effect May 15.
The employees who are being laid off involuntarily are all library assistants, most within the first six months of probationary employment, according to library workers union AFSCME Local 3758.
TRL noted that the continuing involuntary layoffs also include employees with “certain levels of documented discipline.”
TRL administrators were able to create a budget to accommodate fewer layoffs after they were “given additional time and space to more thoughtfully review our budget and the board’s interest in exploring a levy lid lift,” said Library Services Director Andrea Heisel.
The new budget includes “additional cost-savings measures including reductions in non-staff expenditures, ongoing monitoring of revenues and expenses, and adjustments to non-represented staff salaries,” Heisel stated.
In a news release announcing the layoff reversal, Local 3758 said, “This is an unprecedented concession to the ongoing community outcry about the severe impact these layoffs would have to local library services.”
The union thanked its members, as well as library patrons, community members and others who spoke out against the layoffs.
“This outcome reflects the strength of union workers in rallying public support for library services,” Local 3758 said in a news release Wednesday night.
Members of the TRL Board of Trustees confirmed April 11 that TRL had reengaged in negotiations with Local 3758.
The move comes after former TRL Executive Director Cheryl Heywood resigned last month amid public outrage that followed TRL announcing the layoffs as a remedy to the library district’s $3.8 million budget deficit.
Heywood, other TRL administrators and the TRL Board of Trustees have been subject to widespread criticism from the union, library patrons and community members over the last few weeks for their handling of the layoffs and the budget crisis as a whole.
Local 3758 had publicly disputed TRL’s application of the collective bargaining agreement in regards to the layoffs and warned of possible legal challenges if they went forward as planned.
“We appreciate the willingness of TRL leadership to engage with us and respond to the concerns raised by workers and the community,” said AFSCME Local 3758 Staff Representative Beth Gawne. “Working together, we were able to achieve a meaningful outcome that preserves library services and reflects shared values. While challenges remain, this agreement demonstrates that collaboration can lead to real solutions for workers and the communities we serve.”
With fewer layoffs going through, the union, Board of Trustees members and TRL administrators all agree that TRL will need to pass a levy lid lift to establish a sustainable budget.
“We recognize how much our communities depend on a stable, well-funded library system. Sustainable public funding through a levy lid lift vote is critical to maintaining staffing levels, preserving access, and meeting the growing needs of our communities,” Local 3758 said in a news release.
Members of the TRL Board of Trustees issued statements Thursday morning thanking staff for their work to negotiate a resolution with the union and acknowledging the challenges TRL still faces.
“I want to ensure that credit is given to the TRL staff who have been working behind the scenes to find an acceptable solution. While this is a positive step, we still will see some staff laid off and will still have difficult decisions to make for the rest of this year. We hope that the support that the public has shown these few months will be channeled into a successful levy lid lift when the time comes,” said Thurston County Trustee Mary Beth Harrington.
“This agreement is the product of collective, collaborative work,” added Board President-elect Dustin Loup. “Our communities deserve a library system where the Board, leadership, and the union work on issues together, and this development is an example of that at work. TRL leadership brought forward a plan that significantly reduces the immediate impact on staff, the union engaged in good faith, and the public made clear how deeply they value their libraries.”
Said Board President Brian Mittge, “I'm heartened by this new direction for TRL, which dramatically reduces our previously announced layoffs by more than half. After listening closely to the public and taking their ideas into careful consideration, our staff put together a new framework designed to keep our branches open and staffed. It takes our budget from the red to the black through the end of the year. It’s not the entire solution, and we continue to look at ways to resolve long-term structural issues with our budget, but it’s a big step forward.”
While celebrating the win for its members, Local 3758 has renewed its call for an audit into TRL’s finances and leadership to better understand what led to the current budget crisis and hold TRL’s leaders accountable.
“When TRL asks for support via a levy lid lift, the public must know the library has the leadership necessary to sustain essential services over the long term,” Local 3758 stated. “We call on the TRL Board of Trustees to ensure that concrete steps for accountability are met to ensure a successful levy lid lift for TRL.”
During a public Q&A on Saturday, April 11, two members of the TRL Board of Trustees indicated that much of the work to conduct an audit and prepare TRL to run a levy lid lift will fall on TRL’s interim executive director.
The Board of Trustees will conduct interviews for the position on Saturday, April 18.
