The folks who keep the town of Ocean City, Md., running—beach sweepers, boardwalk crews, bus drivers, recreation staff, clerks, trash collectors and more—just want to be heard. Thus far, they’ve made their voices clear enough to win a place on November’s ballot, where voters will decide whether city general staff should have the right to collective bargaining.

The Maryland Senate has voted to shift of some of the cost of teacher pensions to Baltimore City and the state’s counties as part of an efforts to avoid more than $500 million in so-called Doomsday budget cuts originally scheduled to take effect on  July 1.

The House voted 86-51 for the that will begin splitting teacher pension costs between the state and local jurisdictions over the next four years. In the Senate, the vote on the measure that included the teacher pension shift was 33-13.

AFT-Maryland and its affiliate, the Baltimore Teachers Union, have long opposed shifting the cost of pensions to local governments.  Many local jurisdictions, such as the City of Baltimore, already suffer from budget deficits.

One of our own (BCFPE, AFT-Maryland, AFL-CIO and a Baltimore County Government Employee/Volunteer) HAS MADE IT TO THE SEMI-FINALISTS ROUND!

VOTE FOR MICHAEL MORRIS – 2012 AFT PUBLIC EMPLOYEE DIVISION EVERYDAY HERO

YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!

Everyday Heroes: AFT Public Employees Semifinalists

http://www.aft.org/everydayheroes/pubemps2012.cfm

Last night the latest local of  AFT-Maryland voted to approve their constitution. The process of electing an executive board will now begin.  To read the whole constitution, click on title.

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