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WBI Comments
When Bullies Run the Town Library
Summary Updated: March, 2007
When Bullies Run the Town Library
Summary Updated: March, 2007
WBI Summary of the Pueblo CO Library Story:
- Jon Walker and Kathy Knox seem to have terminated a potentially protected disabled employee after that person's case was pursued by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission
- Jon Walker seems to be purging employees for arbitrary reasons at the behest of Joyce Vigil
- Jon Walker and the Board met secretly to admonish employees and were punished by the Court for doing so
- The Board and Library management interfere with union organizing, according to employees
- Walker instructed Library staff to undermine another pro-literacy agency it should have supported
Ý - Some of the Board's actions could be perceived as retaliation against employees for historical "staff problems" through Walker
- The Board president commits shameful public behavior for which she faced legal charges for a short period
- Appointments to the Board may violate ethics rules
- Jon Walker demonstrates little integrity and apparently coerces employees to act unethically
- In retaliation for the original posting of the Pueblo Library story, an official at the library requested an internet access blocking service to prevent library computers from visiting the site for the Workplace Bullying Institute. Officials denied it, though the service blocker acknowledged that blocking must be specifically requested. INFRINGEMENT OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY? or is it no longer public, instead considered property of namesake donor Rawlings, the local newspaper publisher?
And what is most relevant to those of us at the Workplace Bullying Institute ...
- Around October 2005, the Library Board and Walker hired a "facilitator," Ben Leichtling to help them create a "positive work environment." The facilitator claimed an expertise in bullying. Walker appointed an employee Steering Committee made up of staff he promoted and also one of the committee members is the employee who had her personnel file whitewashed. There have been about 2 or 3 members who were not bought off, but one resigned. The facilitator set up employee focus groups to talk about problems. The Committee also invited all staff to communicate with them, even anonymously, their thoughts, recommendations, etc. One employee put his name on his recommendations. In one of the Committee meetings of which the public pays for and the facilitator demands confidentiality, he "ranted for an hour" about that employee's recommendations, according to a couple of witnesses. The facilitator called the employee a "Communist" and said his recommendations were akin to the Communist Manifesto. Actually, the employee's recommendations are known as "Workplace Democracy." Also, several staff wrote in anonymously saying that Walker should either resign or be terminated. In a Steering Committee meeting, the facilitator again "ranted" that those letters were "terrorism" and the staff who wrote them were "terrorists" according to witnesses. Actually, the staff wrote those letters at the invitation of the Steering Committee. These are two examples of how the facilitator is helping to "create a positive work environment" at the library.
(This man is not a recognized authority on aspects of bullying, but he seems to know how to act like one. If upon reading this, you too are angered, contact Leichtling himself to let him know what you think of his unprofessional and cruel conduct and contact the County Commissioners and City Council (links below) who paid for his services. He bills at approximately $8,000/month, with a running totali near $120,000 with no end in sight! How much better could that money be spent at a PUBLIC library.)
Jon Walker and the Board through the conduct illustrated above contradict the library's stated mission (especially to "culturally enrich the community" and to offer "a welcoming environment").
If this story about the Pueblo City-County Library upsets your sense of workplace justice and public leader accountability, contact these elected officials who should be made aware of Jon Walker and Joyce Vigil's undermining an important community institution.
The Pueblo County Commissioners
and the Pueblo City Council
Stop the wreckless reign of (uncontracted) Jon Walker and oust (appointed) Joyce Vigil and the entire Board now for their willful collusion with Walker to waste taxpayers' limited funds and to destroy several working families in the community for arbitrary and capricious reasons. The Board members are POLITICAL APPOINTEES, who in turn, hired Walker. Hold them all accountable!
The County and City should adopt a strict anti-bullying ordinance for all local government workers, then faithfully enforce the policy when violations are reported. Help is available by implementing the Blueprint for a Bullying-Free Workplace.
