{"id":9164,"date":"2016-07-04T16:38:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T15:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9164"},"modified":"2016-07-05T14:27:33","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T13:27:33","slug":"battle-of-the-books-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9164","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Battle of the books\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The long-running \u00e2\u20ac\u0098battle of the books\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in Greenwich opens a new chapter tomorrow (Tuesday July 5) when library workers strike for 48 hours to save the borough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mobile library service from closure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has called for its 84 library members to strike from 00.01 tomorrow as Greenwich councillors plough ahead with plans to close the mobile service which delivers 33,000 books a year to children \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an increase from the 22,000 books lent last year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The union said that what is at stake is children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literacy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the gateway to future employment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which is being jeopardised for a comparatively small annual saving of \u00c2\u0141126,000; although the council has \u00c2\u0141320m stashed away in reserves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLiteracy is a fundamental human right and anything that erodes that life chance should be strongly opposed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Onay Kasab, Unite regional officer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bGood reading skills are the key to decent employment in adulthood \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so the blinkered actions of the council need to be condemned.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite maintains that councillors have ignored the result of their own consultation exercise and have ignored the 1,000-strong petition handed into the council.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey appear to believe that they know better than the experts and have failed to listen to people with decades of experience in this field,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Kasab. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey will be depriving the inquiring minds of children of 33,000 books.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite library members have already staged four days of strike action earlier this year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and have a legal mandate for more industrial action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claim that all the borough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s schools are in walking distance of one of Greenwich\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 12 static libraries is unrealistic, given the busy school day and demands on teachers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mobile library visits schools, nurseries and children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres for those who are unable to visit static libraries. Access for the frail and those with mobility difficulties could also be impacted, as it may isolate them and take their independence away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The libraries are run by Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) as a so-called social enterprise set up by Greenwich council to run its leisure services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite said that 75 per cent of GLL\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staff are on zero hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contracts and it refuses to pay the London \u00e2\u20ac\u0098living wage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of \u00c2\u01419.40 per hour to staff who work in the leisure side of the business.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf the mobile service is closed, other libraries will follow \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that is what is at stake. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we are fighting this \u00e2\u20ac\u0098battle of the books\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with such passion,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Kasab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The long-running \u00e2\u20ac\u0098battle of the books\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in Greenwich opens a new chapter tomorrow (Tuesday July 5) when library workers strike for 48 hours to save the borough\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mobile library service from closure.   Unite has called for its 84 library members to strike from 00.01 tomorrow as Greenwich councillors plough ahead with plans to close […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[461,148,128],"wps_subtitle":"Unite members fight to keep mobile library service","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9165,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9164\/revisions\/9165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}