The union representing UC Berkeley librarians and the university declared an impasse in their contract negotiations Wednesday, according to UC spokesperson Paul Schwartz.

UC librarians argue that their salaries are inconsistent with those of others at similar institutions, while university officials say they are unable to raise salaries due to the current budget crisis.

At present, salaries for librarians in the UC system are between $40,000 and $110,000 a year, according to union officials.

Librarians in the CSU system earn about 17 percent more than UC librarians, with salaries ranging from approximately $55,000 to $120,000.

"The union is requesting 21 percent in general salary increases," Schwartz stated in an e-mail.

Schwartz said that because a large portion of the librarians' salaries are state-funded, the university cannot offer salary increases due to the current budget.

Harrison Dekker, the local president of the union and a librarian at UC Berkeley, said the university has not presented their counter-arguments to the union.

He also added that the librarians are aware of the economic issues.

"We can't say that our salaries are OK because the economy is bad," Dekker said. "We are not going to stop negotiating based on that."

Among the reasons for the impasse are hiring issues associated with the salaries.

"If our salaries aren't competitive, it's harder to attract and retain new librarians," Dekker said.

Union members said current salaries discourage qualified librarians from taking jobs in the UC system, causing the quality of services to suffer.

The union has tried to raise awareness of these issues through a UC system-wide petition, collecting about 2,000 signatures at UC Berkeley.

The university has recently been involved in several contract disputes. AFSCME Local 3299, a union representing university service workers, ratified their contract with the university yesterday after more than a year of negotiations.

Margaret Phillips, a UC Berkeley librarian who has worked at the campus for 18 years, said contract efforts had more to do with principles than salaries.

"It has to do with professionalism, valuing librarians as core to the mission of the university," she said.

Tags: LIBRARIES