Montana labor news., 1936-07-23
THE FIRST
UNION


The letter Of Louise Davies in the
Mail Bag for April was such an in
teresting n that | feel we must tell
you about what we believe is the first
Librarians Union in the United States.
Your readers may be interested to
know that on January II, 1884, in Butte,
Montana, was born Librarians Union
No. 1918, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, and it has been
functioning ever since with a success
that we can point to with pride. It
came into being because the politicians
had for years used the library as a
political football, transferring funds
and leaving the library next to moth
ing for maintenance and salaries. This
is the story of almost all city Libraries
in the past few years.
In 1888 when our Board voted to
close the library for lack of funds and
no one seemed to be able to find a way
out, several members of the staff, de-
Gliding to force the issue, wrote to the
American Federation of Labor asking
the procedure to obtain a charter. The
required number of signatures ~
were obtained and these together with
the customary fee were sent by air
mail and almost Immediately the char
ter was received and with it a letter
telling us the name Of the local man
we were to contact. I do not think
it is possible to describe the feeling Of
security that came to us when we knew
that we had backing in our fight for
the only free institution available to
everyone in a community. Butte is es-
sentially a union town; in fact, Mon
tana has outstanding labor laws and
with the government urging collective
bargaining the local politicians could
hardly fight our organization. Under
stand this was not done to protect our
positions, much as we felt we needed
them, but purely from an idealistic at
titude and a sense of duty toward the
community. Also it was not done thru
the urging Of any labor people. In fact
no labor person knew we had the char
ter until the American Federation Of
Labor sent a telegram stating a charter
had been issued to us. We knew that
in Union there is strength" and that
our profession embodied the trust of
the community that the library should
function all Of the time. 1t was our
duty TO see that the institution was
open to the public and that we be there
to help children and grown-ups. We
must fight for this if necessary. We
felt that this was our trust and we
had the courage of our convictions.
1t is nearly two and one-half years
since the Librarians Union was organ
lied and we can sum up the results
somewhat now. First OF all, the pub
lie was benefited the most. With
greater unemployment and more leisure
the people had the library open full
time and functioning as usual with the
exception of no new books, but plenty
of old ones and a warm reading-room
for the homeless and those unemployed
with plenty Of time on their hands, saw
ing their sanity in some cases. For
the staff, the benefit will begin to show
the first OF June, for we are assured OF
a full pay check. For the past five
years we have been on part time,
sometimes without pay for four months.
Beginning this month we go back on
full time in a building that has been
cleaned and renovated and with all out
standing bills for the five year period
paid.
The library has had a dignified place
in American life but in the changing
world in which we live nowadays, the
library needs the active support OF an
organization that has power and teeth
in Il" and closer working cooperation
with the largest composite group in
America representing all walks of life.
Feeling that way about it we formed
a union. All unions have been started