Kathy Starks-Dyer and Phil Eskew could be understandably smug about the resounding Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) employee vote on Earth Day to unionize. The “business-model” types whose management philosophy has dominated decision making at the community institution in recent years were anything but subtle in their anti-union sentiments.

Former MCPL Board of Trustees President Stephen Moberly expressed dismay back in the winter that the resignation of former director Cindy Gray didn’t end the union movement. He thought the staff would be so enamored with Interim Director Sara Laughlin that all from the contentious Gray era would be forgotten, and they would drop the idea.

The board went so far as to post notice of a behind-closed-door session during which, three days before the April 22 union vote, they would discuss making Laughlin’s appointment permanent. Under President John Walsh and Vice President Fred Risinger, the board learned from their attorneys that they did not meet the 48-hour notification requirement for a closed meeting and canceled it.

So, following a 62-35 vote to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), union organizing committee members like Eskew and Starks-Dyer could easily gloat. But they’re not. They’re looking ahead.

Local Visteon workers were handed a nasty surprise last fall.

The plant in Bedford is scheduled to close by the end of June 2008. In an "effects bargaining session," Visteon management and IUE-CWA Local 907 crafted language they thought would ensure that laid-off workers would receive state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits immediately after the plant closing. The language was based on language used for more than a decade in other plant closures in Indiana.

To their chagrin, they learned that the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD), headed by Commissioner Teresa L. Voors, a Mitch Daniels appointee, had begun "interpreting" effects-bargaining language in a way that departed from past practice.

At issue in the Visteon case were retention bonus payments workers had received from the company as a condition for not quitting before the plant closes. DWD wanted to delay UI payments by the number of months equal to the retention bonus divided by the monthly UI payment a worker would be due.

Construction is a complicated business. From planning and development through the final touches on a new facility, numerous factors play roles in ensuring a job finishes safely, on time and on budget. When the job is finished, the customer expects all of the electrical and mechanical systems to be installed properly and work as designed.

Customers, such as school boards, city governments or private business owners, are paying for architects, engineers, construction managers and quality materials to construct their buildings. Many times, conscientious customers will consider only the most qualified and reputable providers to perform their construction services. This is a responsible and respectable position to take, especially when dealing with taxpayers’ money that more often than not runs into the millions.

However, sometimes lost in the shuffle is a customer’s confidence in the quality, skill and training of the available workforce. From making an incorrect assumption that all construction workers are trained the same (if at all) to never having been informed about the importance of finding highly skilled workers, customers must be educated about the vast differences among the labor pool of construction workers.

Any objective analysis of the Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) administration over the past two years leads to two inescapable conclusions: Leadership at the public institution has been desperately lacking. And MCPL Board of Trustees' President Stephen Moberly's fingerprints are all over the mess.

Moberly is a former 18-year Republican state legislator and retired estate lawyer from Shelbyville. He is one of two MCPL board members appointed by the Monroe County Commissioners -- Republicans Joyce Poling and Herb Kilmer and Democrat Iris Kiesling at the time. His term began in January 2006 and runs through January 2010.

As Moberly has correctly noted, controversial MCPL Director Cindy Gray was hired before he joined the board. But her most egregious transgressions and ethically questionable activities, which infuriated library staff and led to Gray's Aug. 31 resignation under pressure, transpired on Moberly's watch, with his knowledge and approval.

Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) employees will get the opportunity to vote on whether they want to join a union.

The MCPL Board of Trustees voted 5-2 Wednesday to approve a resolution under which 30 percent of eligible employees can request that a vote be taken. A majority of those casting ballots would be needed for the union to form.

Board members Randy Paul, Fred Risinger, Penny Austin, John Walsh and Janice Stockton voted in favor. Board President Stephen Moberly and Linda Hunt voted against.

“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”
- Che Guevara

Question: When is it going to stop? Answer: When you want it to stop. I hate to be so negative during the holiday season, but when are people going to get angry enough to put an end to the ridiculous state of affairs we live in today?

Is it that difficult to shut off the television, stop worshipping professional athletes and get involved? We hear it everyday – people complaining, people whining and people crying, yet they have never make any attempt to change the problem. What will it take for people to become frustrated enough that they demand and act for change?

It has been only a few months since Indiana University outsourced a portion of its motor pool and the entirety of its bookstore operation. In just a short time, serious problems have cropped up all across the Bloomington campus due to this outsourcing, problems IU was warned about.

The biggest problem is that bursar billing of textbooks is no more. This was a vitally important benefit for low-income students. A third of IU-Bloomington students and a higher percentage on other campuses were eligible for it. Barnes and Noble, which took over the bookstore operation on July 1, was not prepared to do bursar billing. As a result, many students were surprised to find they had to choose between paying for books and paying for the necessities of life.

Another problem: departments all across campus have discovered they no longer have the internal billing options for ordering textbooks they used to have. As a result, more time and energy are being devoted to ordering, which has left less time for departments to pursue more important parts of their academic mission. This extra burden placed on the departments is a prime example of the hidden costs that come with outsourcing of services.

Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) Board members heard their commitment to employee rights and open government challenged at a contentious meeting on Oct. 17. Questions came from inside and outside the board and the library.

Board member, VITAL volunteer and employee advocate Randy Paul assailed his fellow board members for drafting a unionization proposal that would have required 75 percent of union-eligible employees to cast votes before a library union could be formed.

“If we were to hold that same standard for the election we’re about to have for mayor and city council, there would be no city government,” he said. “We wouldn’t have a president. We wouldn’t have a Congress. We wouldn’t have a Supreme Court.”

With backing from union leaders and others, Paul said the 75-percent threshold was an example of the board’s prejudice against the union.

As of this fall, IU students will face many changes, ranging from new courses to another incoming freshman class. But there is another modification in store for students, faculty and staff this September - Barnes & Noble is running all campus bookstores.

The decision to privatize bookstores on all seven IU-administered campuses was made last May by university President Adam Herbert, despite concerns voiced by Mayor Mark Kruzan, along with members of the Monroe County Council and the Bloomington City Council.

Many IU employees and community members also worry about the outsourcing of bookstore services. Concerns range from possible increased prices, a lack of job stability for bookstore staffers and the overall trend toward outsourcing nonacademic services provided by the school.

The Fourth of July celebration in Bloomington once again focused on a parade that celebrated our country’s independence. In addition to the fire trucks, politicians and music, this year’s parade included an entry called “Bloomington Labor Unions and Working Families,” which marched in solidarity under one banner.

For the first time in recent memory, working people in Bloomington had representation for a holiday created by the struggles of artisans and craftsmen seeking freedom from the autocratic rule of the English upper class.

The revolution came on the heels of, and through the support of, working people tired of being pushed around by ruling elites and their soldier patsies.