Does Rob Ford have secret plans to fire half of Toronto’s librarians? Probably not

Librarians may be bad at chanting, but they’re pretty good with alarmist rhetoric, according to the Globe and Mail’s Marcus Gee. He’s dubious about library union leader Maureen O’Reilly’s claims that Rob Ford has an “ulterior motive” in his fight to change the union contract—namely, to close libraries and lay off more than half of Toronto’s librarians. Following a line of argumentation that would make Ford proud, Gee argues that the job security enjoyed by library workers is uncommon, even in the public sector, and makes the city unable to adapt to the shifting role of libraries. And while Ford probably thinks we could do with fewer libraries—actually, fewer public workers altogether—last winter’s library budget battle shows he’d have a tough time closing any down. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »