Striking Essex County library workers are not closing the books on striking.
The membership overwhelmingly rejected the final offer from the Essex County Library Board by a vote of 48 to 7.
The union and library management last met with a provincial mediator in late November and talks broke off after eight hours.
CUPE Local 2974 Spokesperson, Lori Wightman says this proves the library board can't bully the members around and despite the length of the strike the members are united.
The union offered to take zeros across the board, but only if library management pulled the third party short term disability insurer off the table.
Wightman hopes the vote means the two sides will go back to the bargaining table. "I would hope that the library board comes back to the table and we do some actual real negotiating and work out a fair deal between the two parties."
Meanwhile the Essex County Library Board is expressing disappointment over the results of the supervised vote..
Board Chair Richard Meloche says they are "extremely disappointed" saying the board provided CUPE with its best offer and one that is reasonable and fair.
In a media release, it says the Library Board will focus on returning valuable library services to the communities of the Essex County in January.
It notes that it has a "plan to re-open select branches for limited hours."
Details of the branch opening schedules will be released in the near future.
No new talks are planned.
The 58 full and part-time workers walked off the job on June 25th to back contract demands resulting in the closure of 14 Essex County Library branches.
- with files from AM800's Teresinha Medeiros