Public library workers in Geneva, IL, vote to form union with AFSCME

Employees at the Geneva Public Library District in Illinois are coming together to form a union with AFSCME Council 31 to strengthen their voice on the job and improve the services they provide to their community. 

The workers filed a majority interest petition with the Illinois Labor Relations Board on May 28. Once certified, about 55 Geneva library employees will be represented by Council 31. 

For the workers, this effort is about respect, stability and having a real say in the decisions that shape their workplace. 

In a letter to their co-workers, members of the union organizing committee said, “An empowered and unified workforce leads to greater employee satisfaction, retention, and productivity, resulting in a better library for everyone. To that end, we have filed to form a worker’s union of Geneva Public Library staff in order to collectively claim a seat at the table where decisions are made in this institution that means so much to us and to our community.” 

Libraries offer an array of essential public services. They are where families connect to the internet, students find support, job seekers access employment resources and neighbors gather. Library workers make all of that possible. 

But too often, the people who keep public institutions running are asked to do more with less. At a time when libraries, library workers and library patrons are facing attacks on funding, access and the freedom to read, Geneva library workers are standing together to protect the services their neighbors count on. 

By coming together to form their union, Geneva library workers are showing that when public service workers have a voice, communities are stronger. 

Their effort is part of a growing movement of library workers choosing to form unions through AFSCME. Our union represents more than 35,000 library workers nationwide, including about 3,000 in Illinois. Near Geneva, workers at the St. Charles Public Library formed their AFSCME union in 2021. 

More than 50,000 workers in libraries, museums, zoos and other cultural institutions across the country have gained a seat at the table and a voice on the job through the AFSCME Cultural Workers United campaign, the largest organizing effort of its kind in the nation.