Maryland State Workers Rally for Better Staffing and Facility Upgrades

Maryland State Employees Rally for Improved Staffing and Facilities

State workers in Maryland are raising their voices against inadequate staffing and outdated facilities, issues that have long hindered their ability to effectively serve the public. In an effort to bring these challenges to light, members of AFSCME Maryland Council 3 have been organizing rallies across the state.

On December 3, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, which represents over 20,000 state employees, held a rally in Baltimore. This event is part of a series of demonstrations aimed at addressing the significant issues faced by the state's workforce. Previous rallies took place in Hagerstown and Salisbury, with another planned for December 19 in Cumberland.

The root of these problems lies in years of underfunding during former Governor Larry Hogan's administration, leading to critical issues such as dangerously low staffing levels, high vacancy rates, and nearly $1 billion in deferred maintenance on state facilities. The facilities in question include state hospitals, correctional facilities, and juvenile detention centers.

Compounding the situation, the State Center complex in Baltimore is dealing with a Legionella outbreak, adding to the list of pressing concerns.

AFSCME Council 3 has laid out specific demands to address these issues:

• Develop a comprehensive staffing plan with a timeline for recruitment, hiring, and retention of qualified staff in each agency.
• Conduct an assessment of the maintenance backlog and secure necessary funding to address these issues.
• Implement a heat standard and launch a campaign to ensure air conditioning in all state facilities.
• Create a facilities plan to improve conditions and reduce health hazards, as well as a safety plan to mitigate violence.

"Now is not the time to shy away from the budget crisis our state is facing. And in order to tackle this crisis in a sustainable way, our state leaders must be bold about growing the revenues that our state needs. That means closing tax loopholes that only benefit large corporations. That means making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share," stated Council 3 President Patrick Moran, who also serves as an AFSCME vice president.

Testimonies from state workers highlight the daily challenges they face:

"A normal workload for me would be fixing six vehicles a day, but these days I’m easily tasked with fixing 10 to 12 vehicles. We’re rushing to complete work because we don’t have enough folks to help, and the training that new employees receive is far from adequate. To make matters worse, the buildings we work in are leaking and insulation is literally falling from the ceiling." – Bryan Goodman, president of AFSCME Local 174 in Baltimore and a heavy equipment maintenance technician at the Maryland Aviation Administration.

"Every day at the beginning of our shifts, we don’t know if we’re going to be able to go home at the end of the night. We don’t know if we’re going to be forced to work another double and go another day without seeing our families. Or worse, be wheeled to the hospital because we’ve been injured." – John Feeley, president of AFSCME Local 1772 in Hagerstown and a correctional officer sergeant at the Maryland Correctional Training Center.

"Our hospital is vitally important to our community, and if we just invested in our hospital and the staff, we could ensure more patients can get the long-term and specialized care they might need. We have entire units that we are not utilizing. We have floors where we’re only housing eight patients but have space to house 24." – Christine Duffy, president of AFSCME Local 1081 in Salisbury and a geriatric nursing assistant at Deer’s Head Hospital Center.