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At Cilip HQ for the town hall meeting on the Employer Partnership scheme. Will try and do some tweets.Permalink On Internet Archive
On twitter.com
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Starting with some housekeeping. There will be a recording of this town hall for internal purposes for the Board to refer to at their upcoming Board meeting.Permalink On Internet Archive
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"Cilip is here to listen." Caroline Brazier reiterating Cilip's emphasis on hearing to people's concerns. They need to understand what people think before the Board can make decisions on the Member Resolution that passed at the AGM.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Issues around the use of the word 'partner' are being raised. 'Partner' implies a strong link and the link to power creates concern as it shifts the power away from a member-led organisation and towards employers (inc. those not living up to Cilip's ethics).Permalink On Internet Archive
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There are also substantial concerns about employers joining the scheme who do not share Cilip's (and its members') ethics. The shift of power towards employers is highly concerning and has ethical implications.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Nick Poole replying for Cilip: as the scheme develops, they want to work on negotiating imbalances of power with employers and how they can address issues where employers do not share Cilip's ethics.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Kevin (@moananddrone) is speaking as one of the signatories of the open letter(s). He is not criticising the scheme per se but its relationship with specific employers.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Discussion now about revenue for Cilip and the place of the Employer Partnership Scheme in generating revenue for the organisation. The primary driver of the scheme is not revenue but revenue is a consideration for it.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Question about why there wasn't a consideration of ethical issues when the Employer Partnership Scheme was developed (as a development of the previous scheme)? Especially w/r/t to the partnership with GLL (an employer that library workers are currently striking against)?Permalink On Internet Archive
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Some discussion about the branding / advertising of the scheme and how it might have been at odds with the intention of the scheme particularly around questions of power and influence within and around Cilip.Permalink On Internet Archive
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There is a feeling from the audience of a lack of trust in Cilip due to a lack of support from Cilip. This has led to members feeling a lack of power. Members are feeling more optimistic in recent years and more supported but the Employer Partners issue has knocked back trust.Permalink On Internet Archive
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There's a concern that Cilip is "losing its way" again w/r/t public libraries and support of public library workers.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Comment from an attendee: Cilip's lack of solidarity with GLL workers who are striking doesn't help with perceived lack of support for public libraries.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Poole says that Cilip wants to redress the balance between acquiring backroom power and supporting frontline workers. He's reiterating that Cilip isn't a union but can stand in solidarity with members in industrial disputes (most recently during the UCU strikes of 2018).Permalink On Internet Archive
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From the room: members /want/ Cilip to nail their colours to the flag and support their members. There's a concern that the revenue from Employer Partners might shift power away from members.On Internet Archive
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This is about how members are /feeling/ and members are feeling mistrust. They're contemplating their membership in light of this. Cilip referred to as a "monopoly" which can be slow-moving.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Question: why has there been a statement of solidarity about the UCU strike and not the GLL strike? Answer from Cilip: there has been with exactly the same wording but it wasn't promoted. Cilip are going to tweet it out again.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Poole emphasising that Cilip have fewer staff than last year and less resource to do this kind of thing and respond to issues like this.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Poole is saying that prior to the Member Resolution, they hadn't heard from members in Bromley asking them to get involved in the GLL strike. So they didn't get involved.Permalink On Internet Archive
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A good point from online: Cilip don't have to have an explicit conversation with GLL on 'which side you should support' in order for the partnership with GLL to exert influence on their decision.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Now being raised in the room: the lack of transparency around what Employer Partners pay and how this affects the revenue. Cilip responding to say that the price of the base employer partnership is approx £500 per annum (more for premium but I missed it).Permalink On Internet Archive
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Poole reiterates that Cilip is vehemently burningly against the defunding of public services (esp. libraries) by the Government. But they occupy a world of various influences which requires them to exert various forms of political power.Permalink On Internet Archive
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Question from the room (me!): what exactly will be happening as a result of the Member Resolution passed at the Cilip AGM last week? What will the review look like?Permalink On Internet Archive
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Answer: this has yet to go to the Board and will do so on the 28th November so they can start to plan how they work on the Resolution.Permalink On Internet Archive
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(I'm feeling dreadful today so I'm not capturing a lot of what is being discussed. @libbrynolf is doing a good job of live-tweeting this meeting too so go check their thread.)Permalink On Internet Archive
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Cilip has taken onboard that there needs to be a simplified and clarified process for raising objections without going through the full AGM process. They need to be more rapid.Permalink On Internet Archive