NJLA Statement: NJLA Supports the Rights of Library Employees to Unionize

NJLA Supports the Rights of Library Employees to Unionize

There has been significant discussion on Twitter recently regarding the position of the NJ Library Association regarding the right of library employees to unionize. The NJLA Executive Board has issued the following statement:
NJLA does not oppose unionization.  NJLA supports the right of all library workers to join a union and negotiate with the library board of trustees for salary and benefits. The current issue is that a larger municipal union wants to have library workers declared municipal workers ( not employees of the board of trustees) to join the larger union.  We believe state law is very clear. It is only the library board of trustees ( NJ State Statute NJSA40:54-12) who can negotiate with library employees.

We apologize if the Executive Board minutes of the meeting of June 2018 do not accurately represent the decision. They will be revised at the next meeting to provide further clarification to the library community.