As noted last week, the Westland, Michigan Public Library fired 5 librarians for union organizing and to add a new wing to the library. More than 16,000 people have watched the video live-streamed from that meeting two weeks ago. Yasuragi watched it, and she wrote this about the Chairman of the library board: “I’m about a half hour away from the end, and I’m furious at that guy. He’s like freakin’ Trump.” You can see that video here, in last week’s story.
For a detailed summary of events, please see Five Fired Westland Librarians Fight Back (Westland Community News).
A video of the recent Westland City Council meeting, posted by the same videographer.
To catch you up on events, two quotes:
“Heroes without the shiny suits: I am awed by the grit, clarity, and compassion of [the five Westland librarians] in the face of the aggression and hostility of their former bosses, proud to stand with them, and grateful for the wave of support from the library community and Westland at large lifting them up.
The Westland City Council meeting on Tuesday night was a marathon of citizen outrage. If you have time to watch the live feed of this or the preceding library board meeting, it is an education in how and when democracy works. I believe the city got the message loud and clear.
The library board has consented to a union vote, and I believe the long-term consequences will be improved working conditions at the library. In the meantime, please continue to shower these five with hugs, chocolate, messages of support, and offers of employment in more functional workplaces.” (Andrea HD, FaceBook, with permission.)
Take Action!
“To the staff at the Westland Public Library: I have received word that the library administration has consented to the new union vote. It sounds like the election process will take place by mail. Ballots will be mailed to your home addresses in April.
If you need any additional information or help from the union, please contact Kevin Karpinski at SEIU 517M. If you need his contact information, feel free to reach out to me privately.
To the new staff: please know that the library staff is not against you, nor are the former staff. I believe I speak for many of us when I say we fully support your right to make your own decisions. I encourage you to watch the 3/20/17 Westland City Council citizens comments and the 3/8/17 library board meeting which can be found on Facebook so you can learn more about the library and the city.
I wish everyone the best. It was an honor to work with you in service to the Westland community.
- Katie
EDIT: Kevin has just informed me that no staff hired after March 3 will be eligible to participate in the vote. To the new staff, I still wish you all the best!” (Katie Dover-Taylor, one of the five fired librarians)
If you are in southeast Michigan, contact people you know in Westland and tell them the story of the Five Librarians. Attend library board and city council meetings until this situation is resolved.
If you cannot go, we created other methods for you to support the librarians, although they do not have a GoFundMe page yet:
The Community Transcripts Project
This story continues a joint project of Support the Dream Defenders and the Community Transcripts Project as introduced here.
Action Steps
Ways to support the Westland Five: Social media, donations, attending Westland City Council and Library Board meetings:
Social Media
- Share on social media: FaceBook and Twitter. Please share the original video and/or this Daily Kos story.
- For Daily Kos members: Republish, recommend, comment, and/or tip.
Donate — “Many a mickle make a muckle”
- Via PayPal: Log in to your PayPal account, click “Send Money & Request” at the top of the page, choose to Send money to friends or family. Send to communitytranscriptsproject.dk@gmail.com.
- Via electronic payment: Send an electronic payment from your bank or credit union to communitytranscriptsproject.dk@gmail.com.
- Via snail-mail: To mail a check, please contact 2thanks by kosmail or email.
The goal of our fundraiser is $500, which is expected to cover our transcription expenses to transcribe key parts of the two videos, the one of the library board meeting and the certain comments at the Westland City Council meeting. Any funds remaining will be donated directly to the five librarians via their GoFundMe page or used for other transcripts for the librarians. We have received $26 so far.
The Transcript
We will provide links to the completed transcript here in this story, and the transcript will be available in this archive and as a Google Doc.
This is a community story of the Daily Kos groups Support the Dream Defenders and the Community Transcripts Project.
Previous Story about the Westland Five:
Please support 5 librarians fired from Westland Public Library. Amazing grit.
[This is a community story of Support the Dream Defenders and the Community Transcripts Project.]