Help Wanted - Scab Librarians

Excuse me for being flippant, but I had to chuckle at this announcement.

Wanted: temporary librarians.

Just in case - or make that in the likelihood - of a strike.

"We are expecting our union to go out on strike on May 18," says an e-mail from the Cleveland Public Library to students and graduates using an electronic employment network of Kent State University's library school. "We are interested in recruiting some temporary workers."

Hourly pay: $20.74 for librarians; $16.62 for assistants.

Benefits: none.

Pardon me, but do students need another excuse for not doing their homework?

The back story on this first ever library strike is kind of interesting. The union, Service Employees International Union District 1199, pushed a ballot measure last year that more than doubled the library's property taxes. The increased tax burden prevents the library from giving requested pay raises, so the union is threatening to strike. It seems to me that the problem is the union. If the union hadn't jacked up taxes, there would be funds for pay raises and no reason to strike.