Archivists on the Issues is a forum for archivists to discuss the issues we are facing today. In this post, Steering Committee member, Sheridan Sayles, talks to a member of the newly formed LAC at University of Michigan.
In March 2021, Lecturer-rank employees at the University of Michigan Libraries—specifically the Librarians, Archivists, and Curators (LAC)—voted to form a union as part of the University of Michigan’s Lecturers’ Employees Organization. This involved coordinating among the Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn campuses and setting standards and goals for all three work environments.
The members of SAA’s Issues and Advocacy section stand in solidarity with the union and, beyond signal boosting their incredible efforts, we hope that getting an insight into the experience of unionizing will support others who wish to take this same path. In this exchange, Colleen Marquis of the Flint campus shares some of her experience.
- What inspired you to unionize?
Our conditions on campus. The Flint campus is very isolated and struggling. The Ann Arbor administration treats us like the problem child rather than support us. Our librarians are overworked and underpaid and it’s embarrassingly obvious to students and fellow faculty in other departments. The breaking point was when we went to re-describe our job duties and redefine our roles (after several positions were left vacant) and realized that we all need two to three job descriptions while being some of the lowest-paid librarians not only in the University system but in the whole state. - What issues were most important to you when forming your union?
Equality across campuses, better cross-campus library collaboration, job security should the Flint campus close, pay, and better working conditions. - What research did you need to complete at the onset of your efforts?
A lot! I learned about how to have the organizing conversation, how to be relentless when contacting people (even if it didn’t work!) and I of course researched ATF and LEO as much as possible. I wanted to be sure that LAC would fit well and it was soon obvious that this was the best way for us to organize. - You were able to get a fairly disparate group together, what strategies did you use—communication or otherwise—in your organizing efforts?
I used every tool at my disposal including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, every day I could to try to contact people I did. My efforts focused on the Flint campus though and with a whole faculty of 7 people in the library and archives and the realities of our working environment, it wasn’t difficult to get a majority to sign fairly quickly! I had a lot of trouble contacting and getting responses from Ann Arbor librarians. - If you could change one thing about the experience of forming your union, what would it be?
CoVID made it hard to get face to face with people and I feel like that could have made things go much smoother. It’s easier to ignore the hardships of someone telling you on a computer screen, much harder to ignore them in person. I had a conversation with someone who had no complaints about their job but when I spoke about the trouble I was having they said, “Yeah but that’s you in Flint.” It was harder to connect the individual with the whole community. - Lastly, what advice would you give to someone looking to unionize?
You will have frustrating and dumb conversations. You have to remember that we live in a society that actively discourages organizing. There is a negative narrative surrounding unions that is pushed harder here than anywhere else. You may come across as looking sneaky or non-transparent when working in secret is a necessary first step. Some people won’t let their egos go about not being the first person to be contacted for unionizing efforts, therefore they have a problem with the union. Others will nit-pick and bring up other issues they think are more important or need to be addressed before organizing. Just be ready with answers and be ready to repeat those same answers when their concerns are repeated back to you but with different wording (maybe this is strictly a problem with academics?!) Also, recognize when someone isn’t going to budge and then move on. If someone has strong idealogical (ie not based in their or anyone else’s reality) reasons to reject a union, move on to where your efforts will bear fruit. Finally, you need tenacity, you need to go after a yes over and over. Doesn’t matter if you feel like you are bothering them – you probably are and that’s good! Keep bothering them, push the issue, get them to make a decision cause they’ll have to justify that decision to themselves. Hopefully, they will realize inaction is a decision and will sign a card.
Issues & Advocacy 