Our local has a long and illustrious history of which we are justifiably proud. On November 2nd, 1945, seventeen library staff gathered to form our union. In 1952 our local, along with civic employees nation-wide, joined the National Union of Public Employees, which became CUPE in 1975. We were certified by the Ontario Labour Relations Board as the sole bargaining agent for London Public Library Employees in 1958, which was a major accomplishment. Furthermore, in June of 1970, after 14 months without a contract, we became the first library local in Canada, and only the second in North America, to strike. The strike lasted for 14 days.
On the 30th anniversary of our local, our history was written and published by Elizabeth Spicer, one of our long-time union members and our local history librarian. In the history it states that the strike ended when a memorandum of agreement was signed on the Thursday at 3 a.m., ratified on the Friday, and the library re-opened with staff back on the job on the Saturday morning – a clear indication of the dedication of our local’s membership to library service for the people of London. Throughout the strike, our local received strong support from labour organizations within the city of London and elsewhere.