Thursday, July 30, members of the San Francisco Public Library’s two chapters—the Librarians’ Guild and the Library Employees Union Chapter—gathered in the Latino/Hispanic Conference Room at the Main Library to swear in their new elected chapter leaders and thank their outgoing leaders.

SEIU 1021 Vice President of Representation Nicole Termini Germain, who came from SFPL’s elected leadership before being elected to her current local-wide role, swore the new officers in. “This chapter’s got heart,” she said. ”And we don’t just have heart—we have density. We are almost at 100% density—almost all of our library workers are members. It’s time to take it to the next level. Let’s get to 100%! I know you can do it.

“I served on this very team that is outgoing and was president and vice president for over a decade, and I’m very proud of the work we did. It’s not easy. It’s also the most amazing thing to do, to be on the right side of history and justice. When we fight, we win.”

The new leaders sworn in for the Library Employees Union Chapter (LEUC) included Yoon Gette as president, Ash Carskaddon as vice president, Ro Singh as secretary, Andrea Montejo as treasurer, Felix Marshalek as chief steward, and Heidi Petersen as COPE delegate. For the Librarians’ Guild, they swore in Paula Heaney as vice president, Lisa Fagundes as secretary, Lyn Davidson as treasurer, Andrea Yeager as chief steward, and Gloria Maciejewski as COPE delegate. The chapter will hold a special election for a new chapter president soon.

During the ceremony, union field representative Arcelia Montoya acknowledged the huge efforts—and impressive wins—of outgoing chapter leaders Nzugu Kitengue (vice president) and Ruben Juarez (COPE delegate) from LEUC and Jessica Choy (president) of the Librarians’ Guild chapter.

“Representing fellow members requires commitment, thoughtful leadership, and countless hours of work that often happens behind the scenes,” said Montoya. “In addition to their role as officers, these three union leaders also served on the citywide bargaining team for our most recent bargaining cycle. They stepped up to rejoin the citywide bargaining team when the Mayor announced layoffs earlier this year, working together with delegates from other city departments to preserve dozens of union members’ permanent civil service jobs.” 

She shared some of the many accomplishments of the outgoing chapter officers and those who are continuing on:

• Provided support for members during the pandemic
• Won 3 day schedules for pages and for a group of part-time librarians
• Negotiated a great contract, including uniforms for delivery services, non-slip shoes for custodians, and 3 full-time branch 8207 positions. 
• Negotiated extra hours to all work locations
• Negotiated a settlement on several grievances, including back pay for workers acting as lead workers
• Negotiated the ability of branch part time workers to have an entire pay period to make up holiday hours, not just one week
• In solidarity with striking teachers, negotiated an agreement to expand library open hours, securing extra hours, overtime and comp time for our members
• Took on fights that are still ongoing: unfair reassignment practices in the security department, making sure workers get paid for the power outage closures, and more
• Secured a side letter committing the library to collaborate on expanding training, professional development, and equitable work opportunities for library pages, via the established library page committee, creating a clearer pathway to promotion 

Chapter members, in turn, acknowledged and thanked Montoya herself as she retires after 16 years at SEIU 1021. 

“We are so grateful for the work Arcelia has done representing us and building the library chapters into the strong chapters they are today,” said outgoing Librarians’ Guild Chapter President Jessica Choy.

“Arcelia has dedicated her life force into our well-being, happiness, and everything we have built here in the library,” added continuing LEUC President Yoon Gette. ”I hope in the future we can carry on all the knowledge she’s imparted on us to better ourselves and carry us forward.”