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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by George Olken, President of Local 1482, Brooklyn Public Library Workers Union
3:40:05
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131 sec
George Olken, President of Local 1482 (Brooklyn Public Library Workers Union), testifies about systematic underpayment of nearly 200 union workers at Brooklyn Public Library. He urges the library to correct salaries and provide back pay to affected workers, while supporting the library's request for increased funding.
- Grievances filed in 2023 and 2024 on behalf of clerical and custodial workers paid below contractual minimums
- Total underpayment across affected workers amounts to more than $250,000
- Olken supports the library's request for increased funding to address various needs, including resolving the pay issue
George Olken
3:40:05
Good afternoon Chairs Rivera and Brandon.
3:40:09
Thank you to the committee members.
3:40:11
I'm George Olkin, the President of Local fourteen eighty two, the Brooklyn Public Library Workers Union.
3:40:16
And I'm going to speak to a particular situation in Brooklyn.
3:40:20
So as John mentioned, public libraries are understaffed and underpaid and library workers are underpaid.
3:40:26
Based on economic contracts negotiated by DC thirty seven in the city, OLR issues pay orders that lay out minimum salaries for each city title.
3:40:36
I'm a bookmobile driver.
3:40:38
My city title is office associate level two.
3:40:41
And so the current minimum incumbent rate for my title is $49,014 and that's exactly what I'm paid by BPL.
3:40:49
After years of members raising concerns about irregularities, our local found that nearly 200 union workers at BPL have been systematically underpaid, paid below the contractual minimums for decades.
3:41:01
We filed a grievance in 2023 and a second grievance in 2024 on behalf of workers in affected clerical and custodial titles.
3:41:09
The library argued that the current method is how salaries have always been calculated.
3:41:13
It's still incorrect.
3:41:14
And they've been working with us to fix it.
3:41:17
Unintentional as it may be, underpayment has dire consequences.
3:41:21
It changes the course of lives.
3:41:22
I spoke to one member who was denied a home loan because their income was just below the eligibility threshold.
3:41:27
That member is underpaid by $3,000 As you can imagine, members are frustrated at the slow pace of negotiations.
3:41:34
Altogether we're talking about more than $250,000 in total underpayment across these workers.
3:41:39
We're confident that salaries will be corrected before the end of the fiscal year.
3:41:44
However, incorrectly paid workers also deserve back pay.
3:41:48
We urge the library to prove they value workers as much as they say they do and to make good on their commitment to workers.
3:41:55
We're supporting the library's ask for increased funding to hire more workers, to buy books and computers, to repair old buildings, and in part to help us clear this final hurdle to pay library workers what they've earned and to end this unhappy chapter in Brooklyn Public Library's history.
3:42:10
Our message is simple, pay us what we're owed.
3:42:13
Thank you for your leadership and your support.