A contract dispute isn’t expected to delay the opening of Vernon’s new library.
Okanagan Regional Library officials insist the new branch on 30th Avenue should be unveiled as scheduled May 5 despite CUPE members recently voting 96 per cent in favour of strike action.
“ORL and CUPE are in active negotiations and we are proceeding with the move,” said Maureen Curry, branch head librarian.
There had been some suggestions ORL was reluctant to bring in moving trucks as staff could walk off the job and the move would be stalled. But Curry says there is no indication of a disruption at this time.
“With labour negotiations, you don’t know from one week to the next what will happen, but both sides are continuing to negotiate,” she said.
“If something were to happen, we will deal with it.”
The current library will officially close Tuesday at 9 p.m. and then the process of relocating thousands of books and other items to the 30th Avenue site will begin.
“We have a plan for every day and every shelf,” said Curry of the lead-up to the May 5 opening ceremony.
The new library is about 30,000-square-foot in size, double the footprint of the old branch.
