UPDATE: February 20, 2020: The Baltimore City Council has passed the resolution and now the property tax credit only awaits Mayor Jack Young’s signature. The resolution had unanimous support in committee, and in the council. CUB offers a huge thank you to Councilman Ryan Dorsey who worked this legislation through the council, Delegate Stephanie Smith who carried the enabling legislation in Annapolis and former Delegate Bilal Ali who first introduced the tax credit legislation and worked with CUB, even when he no longer was a state delegate, to see the bill come to fruition.  2020-02-20

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Education advocates are gearing up for an intense battle during the legislative session over the state fully funding the Kirwan Commission’s recommendations. That fight kicked off in earnest for the legislative session in Baltimore. The Baltimore Teachers Union and AFT-Maryland were on hand to fight for Maryland’s public school children. BTU member Nathan Ferrell spoke at the press conference. He commented “this can and will be a sea change for our state, for our city, and for all of the students in Maryland public schools." He was among a group of policy advocates, educators, and students who

Members from many of the locals of AFT-Maryland were in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the 2020 Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO 29th Annual Leadership Conference. The conference featured a number of important breakout sessions that members and leaders alike learned from. President Jermaine Jones addressed the body with his annual State of theUnion/Council Address. Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Gerald Jackson also delivered remarks.

The sessions included a Common Sense Economic session that explored the way daily economic challenges affect the lives of union members. There were

With each passing month, we get closer to the most important election of our lifetime, the 2020 Presidential Election. In January, things get more complicated for the state federation with the start of the Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session. Despite all that’s going on, AFT-Maryland Political Coordinator Todd Reynolds convened the monthly political committee meeting. The diverse membership of the state federation was well represented with attendance from BTU, MPEC, AFT Healthcare-Maryland, and CUB.

The major focus of the meeting was the upcoming Congressional Special Election for the

Things are off and rolling in Annapolis for the 2020 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Session. In an effort to get the state federation on one accord, AFT-Maryland’s Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Denise Riley, chaired the year’s first legislative committee meeting. Committee members in attendance came from the state federation’s two state employee locals MPEC and AFT Healthcare-Maryland.

Riley laid out the bills that will be on the state federation’s radar this session, including revenue expansion bills that will close tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, as well

AFT-Maryland offered this statement of solidarity with state employees that have yet to receive the promised 1% COLA increase. Click to read the full press statement.

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