New union busting allegations surface as Columbus Metropolitan Library workers rally ahead of union vote

On Tuesday, organizers with the proposed Columbus Metropolitan Library workers union, dubbed CML United, filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the State Employment Relations Board that alleges retaliation in the June 3 termination of a CML worker who served as a member of the union organizing committee.

“The Library’s termination of [the employee] was unlawful and retaliatory and was motivated by [their] involvement in union organizing and protected activity,” reads the filing, a copy of which was obtained by Matter News. “By terminating [the employee] following [their] protected activity, the Library attempted to interfere with, restrain, and coerce employees in the exercise of protected rights.”

This filing follows an earlier Unfair Labor Practice Charge submitted in April, in which members of CML United and the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) accused library management of delays and providing misleading information to staff, along with alleging another retaliatory firing motivated by a second employee’s role as an organizing committee member.

“Claims of union busting are without merit,” Columbus Metropolitan Library wrote in a statement. “All employees have the right to participate in the democratic process.”

Speaking during a rally at Franklin Park Amphitheater early Sunday evening, Columbus City Council member Rob Dorans hailed the power CML workers could wield with a successful union vote while simultaneously calling library management to task for what he described as “some of the most egregious union busting in the public sector I have ever seen.”

“The fact that they’re talking about taking away health care, the fact they’re talking about union decertification, this is insane,” Dorans said at the rally, staged just ahead of the union vote, which is scheduled to take place by mail June 16-30, with the votes tabulated on July 7. “Why are you doing this to folks who are just trying to make their workplace the best that they can make it?”

In May, Dorans also sent a letter to Carla Williams-Scott, the president of the CML Board of Trustees, in which he expressed his belief that library leadership had failed to remain neutral during the unionization process. “I recently met with [CML] CEO [Lauren] Hagan in an attempt to engage in productive dialogue regarding the communications sent to staff members, which in my opinion has strong anti-union messaging,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, CEO Hagan made clear that she believed these anti-union communications were necessary and that they would continue through the SERB election process.” Dorans then implored the Board of Trustees to “address this issue with CML Leadership.”

“Our Board of Trustees received the letter and supports CML’s commitment to providing employees with factual, balanced information,” Columbus Metropolitan Library wrote in its statement. “We have provided information on topics including the election process, the duty to bargain in good faith, employee rights with union representation, and the framework of Ohio’s collective bargaining law. The information we provided to employees reiterated Ohio law as it currently stands.”

Megan Sheeran, a CML United organizer and a library employee of five years, said she was initially taken aback by management’s response to unionization efforts. “We submitted a petition [to leadership] with signatures from a supermajority of our workers asking them to stay neutral, and they just didn’t,” said Sheeran, who pointed as one example to the documents routinely shared with workers by management via a SharePoint site, which she described as having an overriding anti-union bias. “If you read them all, it would seem as if there were nothing good a union could possibly do for you, and it’s all slanted at how to get rid of them, or what could go wrong if you had one.”

A series of speakers reiterated this point on Sunday, including OFT president Melissa Cropper, who said the union-related communications sent by management were designed to sow fear and doubt while also calling attention to the terminations of two workers who had served roles on the union organizing committee. “That’s not what a neutral, confident employer does. Just like Rob Dorans told you, that’s what an employer does when they’re afraid of your power.”