Happy New Year, Members!
I am excited by all that 2024 will offer us as a state federation. We are in a great position to build on the impact we have made across the state in 2023. Over the past year our state federation has grown and we are excited to have community college faculty as well as education professionals at the Maryland School for the Deaf a part of the AFT-Maryland family. We are proud to represent a broad cross-section of public employees working in state and local government. Our diversity of industry has always been a strength of AFT-Maryland and we look forward to that continuing in 2024.
In 2023 we initiated unprecedented engagement and member activities such as steward trainings to empower our members at the workplace. We have also supported fellow workers and labor siblings in their fights for decent wages, fair benefits, and a collective voice at work. The state federation took the lead on a number of legislative fronts in Annapolis leading to great benefits for public employees. While doing all of this, we also continued to be committed partners in the communities where we live and work as we distributed thousands of new books in partnership with AFT and FirstBook to children at events such as Artscape, Trunk-or-Treat, and within schools. We also continued our work with AFL-CIO Community Services, collecting and distributing toy and food donations for families in need during the holiday season.
With all of that behind us, it’s difficult to believe that 2024 holds the potential for so much more, yet it does. This year, AFT-Maryland will hold our triennial convention in May in addition to the AFT’s national biennial convention which will be held in Houston, Texas in July. 2024 is also an election year with several important races taking place locally. We will be gearing up for the Baltimore city Mayor’s race as well as the race for retiring Senator Ben Cardin’s US Senate Seat. Finally, 2024 is a presidential election year that will demand all hands on deck. AFT-Maryland will once again commit to an aggressive get out the vote (GOTV) campaign as we support candidates who support working people.
There is a lot to be excited about in the upcoming year. There will be a lot of work ahead, but work can be joyful when it is in service to the working professionals who make our state and local governments function. I am eager to seize on the potential of 2024 and look forward to working with and on behalf of every member of our state federation to make 2024 an even better year for labor.
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024. Now let’s get to work!
In solidarity,
Kenya Campbell
President, AFT-Maryland