Anglophone South eliminates library worker jobs

The Anglophone South school district is eliminating 13 full-time and five part-time library worker positions, just days after the province promised more collaboration to mitigate the impact of budget cuts.

Theresa McAllister, the provincial president of Local 2745 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said she learned of the cuts in a meeting Monday morning.

She put the number of positions eliminated at 17, with 15 employees affected.

"The kids are the ones that will be affected, because they're saying the libraries will not close," she said. "Wonderful. But who's going to be working in those libraries?" 

The district says the laid-off workers will be eligible for other jobs within the school system, and the cuts won't affect students because schools now use classroom-based book collections.

"Schools no longer have traditional library tasks," spokesperson Jessica Hanlon said in an emailed statement.

"The decision to reduce library worker roles was part of an overall effort to maximize our budget to focus most directly on student learning in our classrooms, and make best use of our employees' skill sets."

The positions were the only library jobs remaining in the district. 

Last week, the Holt Liberal government asked districts for new spending plans to "mitigate choices that could impact the classroom and the supports our students rely on most."

That followed a month of controversy over the province's budget allocation to the seven education districts and the cuts some districts made in response.

While overall funding went up, the government's earmarking of most of the money in specific areas left the districts having to reduce spending by $43 million.

Letters sent to the districts last week said the Education Department wanted to collaborate with the districts and would "consider adjusting funding in relation to the proposals you submit."

The new district plans were due at the end of the day last Friday.

McAllister said it was confusing that Monday's layoffs happened so soon after that deadline. 

"We would be the last to be invited to collaborate," she said. "Let's just put that out there. So I don't know. But I aim to find out exactly how that happened or didn't happen, if they did relook, if they got extra money."

Hanlon said the decision on the library worker positions is final and won't be reversed as a result of any further discussions with the government.

A spokesperson for the Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.