EUCLID, Ohio -- Euclid Public Library workers will hold a public rally Friday, as contract negotiations between the union that represents them and the library's board of trustees have sputtered.
The rally is set for 5 p.m. in front of the library on East 222nd Street and is being organized by the Service Employees International Union District 1199.
SEIU District 1199 organizer Michael Wood said that the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract before the old contract expired on Monday, Sept. 30.
Library Director Kacie Armstrong said both sides agreed to bring in a federal mediator after the last session failed to yield an agreement.
"It's truly our goal to come up with an agreement that's fair and reasonable and sustainable for the library," Armstrong said.
Armstrong declined to go into specifics about the negotiations.
The main sticking point has been wages for the library's union workers, Wood said.
Armstrong seen her salary increase 30% over the last five years, from $109,000 in 2019 to nearly $144,000 last year.
The library's hourly workers' wages have increased by about 15% over the last five years, Wood said.
The library's 2023 annual report showed it had 65 employees. Wood said 47 of those are members of the SEIU.
About a third of the union workers are part-time, and a majority make less than $19 an hour, which is what MIT set as a living wage for a single adult with no children in Cuyahoga County, Wood said.
The union also has asked the library to bring back step increases for workers, which the library eliminated during the 2008 financial crisis and never brought back.
Workers also want a clause in their new contract that guarantees them the same percent raise that administrators get in the future.
Wood said that the clause is a priority for the union because, shortly after the union agreed on a 3% cost-of-living raise in January of this year for its members, the library board awarded administrators a 7% raise.
"If we're settling for whatever we're settling for, we expect the bosses to settle for the same thing," he said.
Wood also pointed out that the library has ended each of the last two years with a budget surplus of at least $1.7 million. He said the union's request for raises does not "come close" to that amount.
"The employer can afford it, and it's fair to our workers," Wood said.
Wood said the two sides are set to meet again Oct. 10 for another bargaining session.
"We'll continue to do what we can do to come to an agreement that's good for everybody," Wood said.