Executive Committee

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is the principal administrative body of Local 4948. It consists of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary-Treasurer and the Recording Secretary. They are elected by the membership every three years by way of a secret ballot vote.

What We Do

The Committee conducts the daily business of the Local. It makes the decisions and takes the actions necessary to protect the work-related interests of the members; all in accordance with the Local’s By-laws and the National CUPE Constitution.

The Committee works closely with the rest of the Executive Board to ensure that all members’ views are heard and their concerns addressed.

Brandon Haynes, President

[email protected]
Telephone: (416)-440-7981 ext 4800

I have worked at the Toronto Public Library for over 15 years, most recently at the North York Central Library in the Business, Science, & Technology department.

One of my earlier experiences with the Union took place when, as a Site Monitor for the “Leading to Reading” after-school program, I was informed by management that they were eliminating my position.

Thankfully, the Union was there for me and made sure there was a process in place for my redeployment. Without the Union, I could have lost my job.

I decided right then that I needed to give back to my Union. I wanted to join the fight to advocate for libraries and help protect the Library Workers who deliver top-notch service to the world’s busiest urban library system!

Since that time, I have been involved with the Union in various roles, including sitting on the Health and Safety Committees, the Executive Board, and as the Ontario Representative and Co-Chair for CUPE’s National Library Workers’ Committee. I was elected President of TPLWU, Local 4948, in November 2019.

The strength and resolve of Library Workers, and from the communities we serve, inspires and motivates me to be a proud advocate for libraries and for the membership I humbly serve.

Gobishankar Sooriyakumar, Vice-President

[email protected]
Telephone: (416)-440-7981 ext 4804

I started working at TPL in 2005, hired as a Page, which is the lowest job classification at TPL.

In 2011, during the Rob Ford era, I became involved with the Union. I was experiencing, first-hand, the negative effects of staff cuts. With fewer and fewer Library Workers in the Branches, Pages were increasingly required to perform duties that we were not trained or fairly compensated for.

So, I reached out to the Union for support. It wasn’t long after that I decided to become a Union Steward and advocate for the members in Malvern District to have Pages treated fairly.

Ever since I’ve been involved with the Union in numerous ways. Within TPLWU, I have served as a Steward, Picket Captain, East Region Chair and Vice-Chair, and am currently the Union’s Vice-President.

I have also been active in Labour Council, serving as a member of the Equity Committee and as a member of the Tamil Workers Network Steering Committee.

In 2019, I became a CUPE Education Facilitator, providing Union education to CUPE members. More recently, I was appointed to the National Literacy and Essential Skills Committee with CUPE National.

Labour movement aside, I have been involved with various grassroots organizations, and have assisted in many election campaigns of progressive leaders. In 2015, I moderated an event by NDP MP, Niki Aston on Gen Y Ask Y regarding precarious work and lack of decent full-time employment opportunities for millennials.

I am proud of the Union’s work and am honoured to serve.

Carmela Corrado, Secretary-Treasurer

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (416)-440-7981 ext 4802

I was born in Italy and immigrated to Toronto with my family in 1970. When I was fifteen years old I applied to the Borough of York Public Library and was hired as a student.

After several years of working at the library, I was finally hired in 1980 as a full-time clerical employee at the Maria A. Shchuka library in York.

At this time, the libraries in York were non-union. Favouritism and other unfair practices were rampant. Today, post amalgamation, all branches are thankfully unionized. Having worked in the non-union library system, I have seen firsthand the differences between a union system and a non-union system.

But unions are only as strong as the people who get involved. I wanted to make a difference so I became active in the union to inform and support library members of their rights and to make our communities aware of the challenges that we face today.

Viveca Gretton, Recording Secretary

Email: re[email protected]
Telephone: (416)-440-7981 ext 4803

I started at the North York Public Library in 1990 and shortly after became Recording Secretary for the library workers. Over the years, I have served on the bargaining, strike, and grievance committees. I became a union activist back in the early 80s when I worked at a large Toronto bookstore working for minimum wage and no benefits.

The staff wanted to unionize – and I became one of the organizers. This early experience exposed me to the ugly side of certain employer practices – and demonstrated how powerful collective action could be in fighting back. Since then, trade union activity has become a part of my life. Its progressive ideals inspire me – and the day-to-day work offers the chance to help working people in practical ways.

I am a frontline librarian at the North York Central Library where I deliver readers’ advisory and reference services to a diverse community of book lovers and film enthusiasts.