CUPE Local 905 is a composite local first formed in 2000. Covering an area that runs South from Steeles
Avenue, North to Lake Simcoe, East to Markham and West to New Tecumseh. We are made up of 15
different Municipalities with 22 Collective Agreements and have 5000 members. Our Library Locals
include Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Newmarket, Aurora, New Techumseh and Georgina. We
serve a population of well over 1,000,000 in York Region.
Some of our branches include award winning designs, world cutting & state-of-the-art facilities and
technology and unique historical designation. We have been a fixture and part of our communities for
over 150 years!
Like many Library systems throughout Ontario, our Members are faced daily with increased workloads,
expanded hours of service, cuts in Staffing levels and funding. Many of our systems are migrating to
the use of RFIDs, Self-check out & automated check-in machines. In turn being faced with vacancies
not being filled yet we continue to be some of the most used systems throughout Canada. Most of our
Libraries are now open 7 days a week, yet again, we have not seen an increase in the number of Staff.
In recent years we have also seen the move towards a more retail way of business where our Patrons
are now knows as Clients or Customers and our professional Staff – Librarians and Library Technicians
are being replaced with Staff who are trained in house. A push to get more benefits and better job
security for our Part Time Staff has resulted in modest gains. Despite all this, our Staff continues to
provide the highest level of service to our Patrons.