We are the workers of the Enoch Pratt Free Library (EPFL) system.
We are custodians, library associates, security officers, librarians, circulation staff, pages, office assistants. We are administrative support, technical services, shipping, maintenance, information systems, programs and outreach, collection development, digital resources. We are bindery workers, graphic artists, designers, printers. We are part time and full time employees. We are all of these things and so much more.
Together we are fighting for a library that prioritizes respect, accountability, and transparency, toward its employees and toward the public.
We are Pratt Workers United.
We, the members of the union, assert that:
We deserve a voice in all decisions that affect us.
We deserve good wages and benefits for all, including part-time employees.
We deserve to have our concerns about our health, safety, and general working conditions taken seriously.
We deserve freedom from racism, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, classism, ageism, and harassment of all kinds.
We deserve transparent and evenly applied standards for hiring, promotion, pay, and contractual work that prioritize internal promotions and do not allow favoritism nor the excessive outsourcing and privatization of government work.
We deserve to have our expertise, knowledge, and ideas seen as valuable resources.
We deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
We, the members of Pratt Workers United, also affirm the sovereignty and land rights of the Piscataway and Susquehannock peoples, the traditional stewards of so-called Baltimore City, and acknowledge the privilege to exist on unceded Indigenous territories. We commit to holding ourselves and our community accountable for continued anti-Indigeneity.
We are not only fighting for us, but for the communities we work with every day. Through advocacy, empowerment, and collective action, we aim to make EPFL a better library for us, and a better library for the people of Baltimore!
Join us!