April 1 Update

Send your concerns or questions to any member of the executive 

Denise Parks — cupe40202chair@mail.com
Eileen McMillan — cupe40202vicechair@mail.com
Raqiya M.Khan– cupe40202secretary@mail.com
Jan Parker — cupe40202css@mail.com
Sandra Cole — cupe40202saa@mail.com
Colin Epp — cupe40202mal@mail.com

Below is the information that was sent out by management today.


A new page is added to the system sub-site of surrey library citynet.

Title: Chief Librarian’s Message – April 1, 2020

URL: https://citynet.surrey.ca/departments/libraries/system/Pages/Chief-Librarian’s-Message—April-1%2C-2020.aspx

Created By: Seline Kutan

Created Date: 2020-04-01 5:07:47 PM

News Content:

April 1 Message from Chief Librarian

Hi Everyone,

Since the temporary Workforce Adjustment Agreement was reached with the Union on March 25, we have been receiving many questions from you. I understand the stress and anxiety our staff are going through.

I want to reiterate that the layoffs are temporary. You are valued employees of Surrey Libraries and our goal is to have you back in your roles as soon as possible after this pandemic crisis has passed.

As we mentioned in earlier communications and in the Workforce Adjustment Agreement, some unionized staff will be retained to support online library services. Some are being retained because of their specialized skills and some because of their role and seniority. The following staff have accepted the offer to continue in their roles to support the following areas:

Cassidy Foxcroft Google IT Support Certificate Program
Tracy Hetherington Graphic design, marketing, social media
Beth Larssen Backup for Google IT Support Certificate Program, social media, website, IS digital services
Shawn Feddes Website maintenance, Bibliocommons, social media
Eileen McMillan Collections Services work
Rajinder Bains Circulation work
Paulette Hembroff Circulation work

 

We are still considering whether to retain other staff to assist with online programming and will communicate any decisions to that regard as soon as we have more information.

Please continue to work safely from home and stay connected with each other and your managers. We are all adapting to this global crisis and the disruption it has caused in our daily lives. It can be challenging to work from home.  You may find the article below helpful.

https://hbr-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/hbr.org/amp/2020/03/what-your-coworkers-need-right-now-is-compassion

Please continue to send questions related to the Workforce Adjustment Agreement to Mandy Sangha, Manager of Human Resources: msangha@surrey.ca and we will make our best effort to respond as soon as we can.

Thank you,

Surinder Bhogal

Chief Librarian, Surrey Libraries