Members of CUPE have issued the results of a poll, in hopes of ending a 67-day old strike by 58 library workers.
CUPE Local 2974 says the poll shows two thirds of respondents believe it is the responsibility of Essex county council to end the strike.
The union spent $7,200 for Environics to conduct the poll of more than one-thousand county residents on August 24th and 25th.
CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn says “it’s money well spent”, because the poll shows just eight-percent of the respondents sympathize with the county mayors in the dispute.
The stance by the union, to put pressure on Essex county mayors, is different than comments made in a news release dated August 17th.
In that statement, CUPE spokesperson Lori Wightman is quoted saying the board is blindly following the unjustifiable sick time change "directive" from Essex county council. Wightman also asks the board to stand up to the county over the sick time issue.
Hahn admits it’s not wrong to say union members bargain with the library board and they are the employer, but he argues the board has been hamstrung by a mandate set by politicians who are elected.
Hahn also points out the Environics poll shows nearly half of the respondents say the library strike would impact their vote.
But the poll also indicates that 57-percent of respondents are not affected by the ongoing strike.
Essex county warden Tom Bain says everyone on county council wants to see the library strike end.
However, Bain adds the mayors and deputy mayors can not intervene in the strike.
There are no new talks scheduled between the library board and the union.
