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BACKGROUND:  March 6 was the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Saskatoon Public Library as a modest reading room in the basement of the Oddfellows Hall. The city’s 1913 population of 12,000 has grown to almost one quarter million today. Library workers who have provided services over the past one hundred years are the reason behind the success and value of the public library that flourished and expanded into the eight branches it has today.

Since 2008 public library managers and exempt staff have received average wage increases of 49%. The Board’s latest offer would leave wages for library workers 7% – 19% below those of library workers with the same qualifications and doing similar jobs with the Saskatoon Public School Division, the University of Saskatchewan libraries, and the Regina Public Library. And many library workers don’t even qualify for benefits.

Even though workers have now been without a contract for three years, the Library Board is not willing to meet with the union to resume bargaining.

Library workers are committed to providing the same excellent service that citizens of Saskatoon have enjoyed for the past century. The public is invited to join library workers at a party to celebrate the library’s most important resource – its people.

  • Who: The public and media are warmly invited
  • What: Free variety night featuring: - Live music by The Lost Keys and Pearson; Storytelling  by Judith Benninger; Ribald puppetry of Jenny, Joe and Jim
  • Where: The Bassment: 202 – 4th Avenue N.,Saskatoon (north entrance)
  • When: Sunday, March 10, 2013
  • Time: 7 p.m.

Contact: Dolores Douglas, cell 306-230-4139