Trumpolini, a portmanteau of Trump and Mussolini, and the Italian suffix meaning “little” appended to the name of our wannabe national tyrant. Mark Neal, the chair of the Westland Library, is a Trumpolini.
As noted on March 17, the Westland, Michigan Public Library fired 5 librarians for union organizing and to add a new wing to the library. More than 17,000 people have watched the original video of the library board meeting on March 8.
The fierce and fiercely-loved commenter of Daily Kos, Yasuragi, watched the 107-minute video, and she wrote this about Mark Neal: “I’m about a half hour away from the end, and I’m furious at that guy. He’s like freakin’ Trump.” You can watch that whole video here. However, the videographer, Kristy Cooper, excerpted 17 minutes of that video here.
Who has time to watch a video that long? Not many. Therefore the Community Transcripts Project transcribed the highlights.
Brief Review
- March 1: Westland, Michigan librarians submit union-forming paperwork.
- March 3: Library director fires the five organizers.
- March 8: Library board meeting. Truths begin to percolate to the wider community.
- March 13: Westland city council gets earsful of resisting citizen comments, “longest council meeting ever.”
- April 27: Staff of Michigan Employment Relations Commission will count the mailed ballots of the remaining staff.
- Early May: Ballot results will be announced by MERC.
Current Status
The remaining employees are filling out and mailing in their ballots. The verbally abusive and punitive library director is on administrative leave, pending the voting results. Trumpolini has announced that the library has a surplus of 3 million dollars, which is about 112% of the library’s yearly operating budget. Most other city departments have a 5% to 8% surplus. And yet he said that there were not enough funds to keep the librarians. More details: Westland: Hometown Life, a Kristy Cooper’s FaceBook entry, and another Cooper FaceBook entry.
The Community Transcripts Project
This story continues as a joint project of Support the Dream Defenders and the Community Transcripts Project as introduced here.
From the Transcript
The supervisor who quit in solidarity with the five fired librarians read her letter of resignation at the beginning of the meeting. This was not caught by the video, but an audio record surfaced and is included in the highlights.
“With the current administration, although I have maintained my lifelong dedication to my work and my co-workers, things have changed. I will no longer work in a toxic and dishonest environment, an environment that allows for a director who decides she will no longer speak to specific members of her staff, routinely screams at her staff, makes false accusations about her staff, and disciplines them based on her false accusations. This is the environment staff encounters outside the ears of the public.” (Marilyn Kwik)
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 to the Community Transcripts Project — “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.
Fundraiser Goals
The goal of our fundraiser is $300, which will cover expenses of transcription of the video of highlights of the library board meeting. We have received $56 dollars to date, so our remaining goal is $244.
Notes
This is a joint community diary of Support the Dream Defenders and the Community Transcripts Project.
Power with, not power over,
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