Library outcome next week
by Bernard Harbor
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The result of an industrial action ballot involving library staff in 13 local authorities will be announced next week. The IMPACT members are balloting over plans to amalgamate library services on a two or three-county basis.
IMPACT says the proposals would threaten service provision as library budgets come under increasing pressure. The decision to ballot followed a meeting of branch and library representatives last month.
The ballots, which are being conducted by local IMPACT branches, close at noon this Friday (1st July), with a national result due to be declared the following Monday. The local authorities affected are Carlow, Cavan, Cork City, Cork County, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath.
IMPACT says the proposals, drawn up by a Dublin-based planning group, took little account of local needs and failed to include a cost-benefit analysis. The union says neither staff nor local elected representatives have been properly consulted on the initiative, which has no statutory basis and could herald the end of local decision-making on library services.
There are also concerns over the impact of the proposals on staffing and career structures, and the possible relocation of staff across county boundaries.
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