Boston Council Committee Hears Library, Teamsters Union Contracts Totaling $821,000

BOSTON — July 29, 2024 — Boston City Council Ways and Means Committee hears $821,000 in union contract funding for library and Teamsters workers. Committee Chair Brian Worrell convened the July 29 hearing on four dockets — Dockets 1110 through 1113 — covering collective bargaining agreements between the city and the Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association and Teamsters Local 25, both running July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2027. City Budget Director Jim Williamson said the transfers draw from a $96.8 million collective bargaining reserve approved with the FY25 budget, leaving roughly $96 million intact. Both contracts provide a 2 percent base wage increase annually plus flat dollar additions, amounting to a 12.6 percent cumulative raise for the lowest-paid librarians over four years. Allison Hahn, BPLPSA vice president and incoming president, testified that members are "300 days out of those contracts," that 40 branch vacancies have left staff spread "incredibly thin," and that the library has no written active-shooter policy and non-functional panic buttons at multiple locations — issues that drew pointed follow-up from Councilors Flynn, Worrell, and John FitzGerald.