A message to the Library of Congress community
Dear LC friends and colleagues,
We invite you to join us in an important fundraising effort.
This December, the Guild, AFSCME Local 2910, is joining forces with the food service workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 23, to gather contributions for our friends who work in the Library’s cafeterias. We have a short window for donations, which can be accepted through December 9.
The cafeterias at the Library are closed until further notice and thirty food service workers, all employees of the contractor I.L. Creations, are out of work. In fact, they have been laid off since the beginning of the pandemic last March. Their health insurance benefits were terminated on July 31, and their extended unemployment benefits will run out in December. Currently, the workers are receiving approximately $300 each week.
All Library of Congress food service workers are members of UNITE HERE Local 23 by contract, and their union has helped them mightily during the pandemic so far. These efforts include gaining an extension of seniority recall rights (that will allow them to return to their Library jobs), and helping those who are eligible to find alternate health insurance through Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
Guild Chief Steward David Fernández-Barrial and Unite HERE Local 23 Shop Steward Willie Price, October 2020
Many of you know Willie Price, the UNITE HERE Local 23 Shop Steward for the LC food service workers, who herself has worked at the Library since 1981. Willie and her coworkers have been feeding us and brightening our lives for many years—including at the Guild’s annual holiday parties. Here is an opportunity for the LC community to help our friends through this unprecedented, difficult time.
Your financial contributions will go directly into a special fund set up by Local 23, who will distribute grocery store gift cards directly to food service staff. In order to get these cards to Library of Congress food service workers before the holidays, Local 23 has set a deadline of December 9.
To get the ball rolling, the Guild will make the first donation of $500. Thereafter, the Guild will match each donation to the fund dollar for dollar, up to $3000. These funds are available specifically because we will not be gathering for our annual holiday luncheon party this year.
Please help us raise enough to make a significant contribution to each of the Library’s thirty food service workers! If we all pitch in, we can make a huge difference in the lives of our friends and coworkers in LC’s food service.
>> Click here<< for the donation page created by UNITE HERE Local 23 for the Library’s food service workers. The Guild is organizing the effort, but you do not need to be a member to participate. Anyone may donate! Please help us spread the word!
Please donate today.
Your friends in the Guild hope that you and your families are healthy, safe, and doing as well as can be. We look forward to seeing all of our coworkers in the halls—and cafeterias!—of the Library soon.
In solidarity,
The Guild Executive Board
