Library workers in Lambeth are balloting to strike over proposals to turn three libraries into “healthy living centres”.
The libraries in Oval, Loughborough Junction and Herne Hill are set to be taken over by Greenwich Leisure Limited which, protesters claim, will build gyms with lounges for bookshelves.
Ruth Cashman, 30, a Unison representative and Brixton Library worker, said: “We’ve had the consultative ballot which unanimously supported action and official ballot papers will go out in the next few weeks.”
According to Unison, at least a quarter of the libraries’ staff will be made redundant if the plans go ahead.
Hundreds of protesters marched from Brixton to Oval on Saturday to oppose the project. Greenwich Leisure Limited declined to comment.
Laurence Maples, 21, of the Lambeth branch of the Socialist Party, said: “An escalating campaign of strike action could make the council back down and would attract huge support from the local community, as shown by the 600 who marched on Saturday.”
However, a Lambeth council scrutiny committee last night voted against referring the proposals back to the local authority’s cabinet to be reconsidered.
Jane Edbrooke, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said government cuts required the council to make £200 million in savings between April 2010 and March next year.
She added: “We will work with Greenwich Leisure Limited, the social enterprise company that runs Lambeth’s leisure centres, on the creation of an independent, not-for-profit Lambeth Cultural Trust, starting with three trial sites at Carnegie, Minet and Tate South Lambeth libraries.”
She added: “These new services will potentially give residents the chance to use both health and library services in one place.” Lambeth council would not comment on the possibility of a strike. The protests came as Southwark opened a £3.7 million library in Camberwell as part of a £13 million revamp of Camberwell Green, with a play area and market square.
Councillor Ian Wingfield said: “It is fantastic to see that despite local authority cuts, to Southwark, libraries remain a valuable part of our communities and we are proud to be able to continue investing in them.”
