‘One City, One Union’: AFSCME members rally against separating library from city

Mayor opposes split; Library Board president says going independent ‘not a foregone conclusion’

By Bob Seidenberg

Evanston Public Library employees, members of AFSCME Local 1891, the city’s biggest union outside of fire and police, hit back hard Wednesday afternoon against the Library Board’s consideration of a plan to separate from the city.

Mostly silent publicly until now, library employees were among union members who gathered at Fountain Square.

Carrying signs and chanting “One City, One Union,” roughly 100 union members from a wide range of city departments marched down Orrington Avenue, to the main library at 1703 Orrington Ave. Several addressed library trustees at the board’s monthly meeting.

‘’All of us, as union-represented employees of Evanston, have always stood in solidarity against any proposal that could result in cuts to library services, hours, programs and jobs,” Eileen O’Neil, president of Local 1891, told the trustees.

“That’s why we — library employees, city employees — are unified with our community of patrons and supporters to say no to the possible plan to split the library away from city government,” she said, presenting trustees with petitions signed by more than 200 members against the move.

In February, library trustees contracted with Meristem Advisors for $50,000 to look at the library’s financial future and recommend options, including examining the possibility of separating from the city.

At the time, library Executive Director Yolande Wilburn told the trustees that the detailed cost analysis expected from Meristem would give officials some idea of the worth of the services the library receives from the city. “So it is not necessarily to say that we are going to separate from the city, but this will help us to be able to prepare, to plan,” she said.

Board members took the move in the face of not being able to secure an agreement that would outline financial responsibilities in the library’s relationship with the city — including who would pay the bill for a needed $19 million renovation of the main library building, owned by the city.