Memphis City Council member J.B. Smiley’s plan to introduce a charter amendment that would reclassify Memphis Public Library employees as civil service workers may have surprised some. But for many in the system, the move feels long overdue.
“Over the years, you pick up on the feeling that library workers really want more of a voice with the city,” said Anthony Lucatelli, a longtime employee at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library.
Lucatelli’s hunch proved correct. Grievances, about more than just pay, have built up across branches. As the head of an organizing committee seeking to join the Communications Workers of America union, he said librarians, assistants, clerks and other appointed employees are among the lowest-paid municipal workers in Memphis.
Smiley told assembled library workers he plans to introduce a charter amendment to reclassify their status at the council’s Nov. 4 meeting. If approved, the question would be put to voters on the November 2026 ballot.
The legislation bucks the administration of Mayor Paul Young, who is currently suing the police and fire departments unions to withdraw from their current labor agreements with the city. The first-term executive argues any existing contracts with the city signed before he was sworn in are invalid.
In addition to better pay, library employees are seeking workplace protections, improved conditions and a voice in decisions affecting their nearly 300-member workforce. Reclassification as civil servants would allow them to collectively bargain. As appointed employees, they currently serve at the discretion of the mayor.
“I’ve certainly spoken to someone from every branch and every branch has challenges,” Lucatelli said. “Oftentimes, when you’re at a branch you feel like you’re a satellite. You’ve been neglected.”
Many locations face recurring maintenance issues, including spotty HVAC systems that are operable one day and offline the next. The maintenance shortfall is reminiscent of those in some MSCS schools over the past few years.
The Memphis City Council hears these concerns the same day as the announcement of a $2 million funding resolution to address the outstanding repairs.
Security is another concern. Many branches are only staffed part-time. For several hours of the day, staff members are without reliable safety measures in place if an incident happens.
The growing list of grievances contributed to a “feeling of powerlessness,” Lucatelli said.
“Maybe not now, because we’ve come together to make change and we’ve got each other’s backs,” he said. “But for years, there’s been a feeling that nothing will ever change.”
Nevertheless, low pay tops the list of complaints.
The starting salary for a college-educated librarian begins at $39,000. Librarian assistants can make as little as $28,000 annually. The latter salary goes little beyond the needs of one person. According to Salary.com, the cost of living for an individual in Memphis is $26,664. For added perspective, the average salary of a City of Memphis employee is just shy of $54,000.
Library staff are scheduled to receive a 3% boost in pay in the fiscal 2026 budget, along with nearly every other city employee, as part of an across-the-board raise in 2024. Still, the bumps in pay aren’t enough to keep up with the cost of living.
“We have the lowest paid sector in the city,” said Central branch librarian Samara Solomon. “We are at the bottom rung.”
For many, the only avenue to earn more is through a limited number of management or administration positions. According to Solomon, a lack of incentive, coupled with a sense of hopelessness, compels many to seek employment elsewhere.
“Once you realize you can’t make any more money as a librarian, people leave,” she said. “They go somewhere else.”
With frequent turnover, valuable institutional knowledge is often lost. As a result, employees typically have to wear more than one hat during a workday. A hiring freeze instituted by Young this month has compounded the issues.
The council and administration have warned that if the plans of about 70% of library employees come to fruition, they will likely be relieved of their current positions and would have to reapply for their jobs.
“In the process of being transitioned from appointed positions to civil service positions, instead of having our status changed, we would all explicitly lose our appointed jobs and have to reapply for the same civil service position,” said Lucatelli.
However, civil service status allows workers not rehired to file a grievance to regain employment — something the current staff can’t do. And, unless the administration prefers to start from scratch, Piscatelli noted that many employees would likely need to be rehired out of sheer necessity.
“If you fired every single librarian,” he said, “yeah, that’d be messy.”
