Librarians to ballot for industrial action

Local librarians are balloting for industrial action in protest at plans to amalgamate Westmeath and Longford’s library services.

In total, 55 staff in Longford and Westmeath will be affected by the proposed changes, which would see libraries in both counties managed by one local authority.

In a statement issued yesterday, the trade union Impact, which represents the affected workers, says that the scheme would immediately leave either Westmeath or Longford without a county librarian. Impact also claims that the planning group behind the changes did not visit the counties, took little account of local needs, and failed to produce a cost-benefit analysis of its proposals.

The trade union has contacted councillors in both counties and says the majority agree that library services should be maintained on a county-wide basis. The union says neither staff nor local elected representatives have been properly consulted on the initiative, which has no statutory basis and could herald the end of local decision-making on library services.

Impact official Ashley Connolly said staff also had concerns that they could be ordered to work on a cross-county basis at locations far from their homes or existing workplaces.

“Local libraries are vital social hubs in rural and urban communities that have already lost shops, garda stations, post offices and other amenities. We can’t allow our thriving library system to be to be gutted on foot of a remote number-crunching exercise.”