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Library Staff Covered by Collective Bargaining Agreements

A Report from the 2005 Survey of Librarian Salaries

This month, we report on the percentages of librarians, other professionals and support staff who are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In May, LW reported the answers to the supplemental question, “Which compensation strategies do you use in your current pay system” and to check all that applied. There were seven typical strategies and six additional forms of compensation. We will analyze the final question about FTEs by department in July. Two of these questions were also asked in the 1997 Survey (See 1997 Results).

The 2005 Survey of Librarian Salaries 2005 read, “Which of your library’s employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement?” There were three types of staff listed: librarians, other professionals, support staff. We did not define “other professionals.” This question was asked to update data collected in the supplement to the 1997 Librarian Salary Survey. The 1997 study found some or all support and professional staff were covered by a collective bargaining agreement in 34.3% of the 891 libraries that responded. The data have not changed much in the intervening years, but do reflect slight increases for librarians and support staff, as reported below.

In the 2005 survey, 2040 public and academic libraries responded and at least one category of staff was covered in 35.8% (732) of libraries. All librarians in 13% of responding libraries are covered; 8% of other professionals; and 17% of support staff (Table 1). The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO Fact Sheet reports that 31.1% of librarians are covered. The percentage of librarians and professional staff (combined in 1997) covered partially or in total has increased from 29.1% to 35% (Table 2). The percentages are up for librarians and other professionals who are all covered, but down for support staff (Table 3).

All staff are covered in 113 of the nation’s libraries that responded; none of the staff are covered in 1309 libraries. In 146 libraries, all of the support staff and other professionals are covered, with a mix of all or some of the librarians. In only one case were all support staff and professionals covered with none of the librarians covered. In 33 libraries, only the support staff is covered.

For those who want to know whether unionization has an impact on salaries, the DPE quotes the Union Membership and Earnings Data Book, 2006 Edition, which says that union librarians earned an average of 41% more than non-union librarians in 2004.

Table 1. Staff Covered By a Collective Bargaining Agreement (n= 2040 public and academic libraries)

Table 2. 1997 Results Compared With 2005 Results of All or Some Staff Covered*

*Librarians and Other Professionals were combined in 1997.

Table 3. 1997 Results Compared With 2005 Results of All Staff Covered

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