The Martin Luther King Jr.  holiday should be among the most sacred days for labor. It was Dr. King who moved us with the fierce urgency of now to remember that each of us are “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This is the ethos of the labor movement. It is a testament to our commitment to solidarity and why we should venerate him today and every day.

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It is with the heaviest of hearts that I share that Metro Baltimore AFL-CIO President Emeritus Ernie Grecco has passed. Ernie was a lifelong champion for labor and particularly for public employees. He was a strong advocate for AFT-Maryland and offered the full support of the council to the state federation at every turn. He was a kind, engaging, and affable leader who greeted everyone he met with a warm smile and playful joke.

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Professional development is never a day off for the hardworking members of the Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU), Local 340. As is the annual fall custom of QuEST, the BTU put on a dynamic, engaging, and powerful professional development conference. The day-long event gave education professionals the opportunity to learn from fellow BTU members about strategies to be an effective educator inside and outside the classroom. 

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Labor Day tells us that school has started, the summer is winding down, and the seasons will soon be changing. For us in the labor movement, it is also an opportunity to reflect on the only federal holiday to recognize workers and their efforts. As exciting as it is to celebrate labor and our accomplishments of the past year, we must also recognize the herculean efforts adversaries go through to stop us.

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Reading is a tool that opens every world. The state federation's deep integration into the community leads other organizations to partner with us when schools and community groups want to expand literacy among their students. AFT-Maryland has done this consistently over the past year with the Reading Opens the World events celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month (video) and Black History Month. During these events AFT-Maryland engages with students as well as faculty and staff as we distribute books for students to use to develop their home libraries.  Things were no different at Hamilton Elementary-Middle School. Students received books focused on characters and stories celebrating Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage. The books are empowering for students... CLICK TO READ > > > MORE

At the height of the pandemic the nation took notice of the valuable role that nurses play in our society. The high point of clanging pots and pans to celebrate healthcare professionals may be behind us, but the invaluable work nurses do on a daily basis is not forgotten by the communities they serve nor by the labor movement. AFT-Maryland is proud to celebrate all of the public health nurses in our federation that help keep our state and local communities safe and healthy.  Happy Nurses Appreciation Week! CLICK FOR > > > MORE