Press Room

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Today, Governor Wes Moore signed HB 260/SB 192 (State Personnel - Collective Bargaining - Supervisory Employees) into law in a bill signing ceremony attended by dozens of AFSCME members.

Open seat is critical for Southeast Baltimore; endorsement adds to existing list of endorsements by AFSCME Maryland

Legislation that contains largest expansion of collective bargaining rights in past decade now heads to Governor’s desk

SALISBURY, MD- Today, the family, friends, and co-workers of Gregory Guy Collins will finally see justice as the sentencing for his murder will be announced twenty years after his death. On June 4th, 2001, after his shift at the Eastern Correctional Institute, Collins was murdered by John Michael Ingersoll Jr. For 18 years, Officer Collins's family had waited for justice as the case sat cold until last year when the Maryland State Police announced the charges. A grand jury convicted Ingersoll of first- and second-degree murder on Friday, September 13th.
BALTIMORE- Today, AFSCME Council 3 and AFSCME Council 67 jointly announced their endorsement of candidate and former Maryland and U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez to be our next Governor. Together, the two councils represent nearly 100 local unions, over 800 worksites, and over 50,000 state, county, municipal, school board and higher education employees across Maryland.
Baltimore, Maryland- AFSCME Council 3 members march and rally in Baltimore alongside legislative and community allies to demand Governor Hogan invest the recently announced surplus in underfunded public services and the employees who provide them. Members will gather at 301 Preston St. and march to the Walters Art Museum in solidarity with cultural arts workers organizing to win a union. Maryland has a real chance to improve services by investing in our state government again after news of our $2.5 billion dollar surplus. Coinciding with AFSCME’s rally and march will be the release of a report, Surpluses or Services? highlighting the need for greater investment in critical state services.
Baltimore, Maryland- AFSCME Council 3 will release a new report detailing issues of wage inequities within the University System of Maryland (USM). Since Governor Hogan vetoed Senate Bill 9, which would consolidate bargaining for higher education workers, AFSCME members on campuses across Maryland have been taking action to urge the University System of Maryland to negotiate immediately.
Today, Governor Hogan announced a $1,000 bonus for all state and higher education employees in Maryland. This will be helpful to the tens of thousands of Maryland state and higher education employees who have been working through the pandemic on the frontline under dangerous conditions with no acknowledgment from the Governor. A one-time bonus is not enough to compensate our members who are still waiting for access to the vaccine and risking their health and their family’s health by reporting to work every day.
Read articles featuring AFSCME Maryland members fighting for a better Maryland across the state over the past week.
We are encouraged by the Comptrollers FY20 closeout report showing almost $600 million in fund balance. We have said from the beginning that the Governor needed to be prudent and not just wildly cut state services and those who deliver them. This report validates our position. Going forward, the number of positive cases in Maryland continues to rise. Public employees continue to be on the frontline of containing the spread of the virus and mitigating the social and economic effects on our neighbors. We urge caution and measured actions to ensure our state can economically recover. We call on the USM and the Governor to put frontline workers first so that public services continue to function and deliver for the people of Maryland.
Baltimore- AFSCME Maryland members in state and higher education are pleased to see draconian cuts to state services and frontline employees removed from the July 1st BPW agenda. The leadership of State Treasurer Kopp and Comptroller Franchot and thoughtfulness about the needs of Marylanders will not be forgotten. Congratulations to the dogged Council 3 members who lobbied, emailed, called, wrote letters and did direct action to get the point across that state services during a pandemic must be protected.