On October 28^th Sunday hours will resume at 16 Toronto Public Library branches that had been closed as a part of the Mayor’s ill conceived cost cutting measures. The sad reality of this is that the need for public libraries to remain open on Sundays and the public outcry as a result of the closure had nothing to do with the decision to reopen.

We can thank Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. They filed a grievance on behalf of the 188 library workers that were affected by the Sunday closings. The argument put forward by the union was that the Sunday library closures illegally laid off the library workers, contravening their collective agreement. And the arbitrator agreed. The union is still working towards recuperating lost wages and/or seniority that their members may have suffered during the closure. The library workers win and the public wins. At the end of the day, does it really matter how it all came to be?