BOULDER, Colo. – Christine Burke and Michael Serrano both work at the Boulder Public Library in Colorado. Both agree that their community needs a flourishing public library. And both believe library workers need a voice on the job to better serve their community.
Burke and Serrano are among the Boulder Public Library workers pushing to form a union through AFSCME. Workers went public with their unionization plans last Friday. They chose AFSCME, one of the nation’s largest unions representing public service workers.
AFSCME Colorado organizes and represents thousands of public service workers across the state, including other library workers in Jefferson County.
Nationally, AFSCME’s Cultural Workers United campaign is the largest organizing movement of cultural workers, representing 50,000 workers at museums, libraries, zoos and other cultural institutions. That includes 25,000 workers at 275 public and private libraries across the country.
Workers are asking the Boulder Library Board to grant them collective bargaining rights and then voluntarily recognize their union. Should the administration refuse either of these requests, workers are ready to fight for their rights. And they are confident of winning a union election.
For now, workers will continue to organize and gather signatures on union cards. They look forward to continuing the conversation with the administration.
Boulder Public Library workers say having a union will give them better job security and a voice on issues that matter to them and to the public.
“Libraries are public institutions, model institutions of democracy, and we want to democratize our workplace,” said Burke, a volunteer program coordinator. “Our community deserves strong, protected libraries into the future, and the best way to ensure that is to make sure library workers are strong and protected too.”
Before the Boulder Public Library District was created, staff had union representation and collective bargaining rights as city employees.
“When we separated from the city, library staff went from having a union with collective bargaining rights to being at-will employees with benefits that could be modified at any time without notice,” said Serrano, a custodian. “A union restores our voice and a seat at the table in decisions which directly impact library workers — people who provide essential services in and for our community.”
Workers at Jefferson County Public Library were the first to form a library union in the state since the Colorado legislature passed a collective bargaining law for county workers in 2022.