News

The warm weather of the summer season provides a great opportunity for AFT-Maryland to get involved in the community. President Kenya Campbell and the state federation team set up a table for voter registration, joining a large number of vendors and merchants for the Black Wall Street of Baltimore Business Walk. The event was sponsored by the non-profit Notre Maison Connects, an organization founded and led by Jacqueline Cummings, a member of the Baltimore Teachers Union. This year’s voter registration efforts go beyond the traditional voter engagement efforts in the past, due to the upcoming statewide elections, redistricting, and the unique election taking place in Baltimore for the school board race. For the first time, citizens will have an opportunity to elect two members of the community to the school board. CLICK TO READ MORE

June begins the month-long PRIDE celebration. This is an opportunity to celebrate the amazing diversity of people within our state federation and our larger community. This is a celebration of the various sexual identities and orientations that exist within the human family. For the LGBTQIA+ community, it is a time to fully live in one’s own skin and share in communal fellowship with others.  The celebration we know of today was not overnight. Activists committed to justice have long engaged in the struggle to... CLICK TO READ MORE

May 6, 2022 was National Nurses Day kicking off a week of celebration and appreciation for the backbone of the healthcare field. For AFT-Maryland, it was an opportunity to show the nurses who are members of the Baltimore County Federation of Public Health Nurses, Local 5102 how grateful we are for their dedicated service to public health in Baltimore County. Our members were on the front lines of the public health efforts during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the rollout of vaccines and boosters, our nurses have continued to serve Baltimore county residents with care and compassion, all while ensuring their work to keep the public healthy.  CLICK TO READ MORE

Memorial Day is a welcome sight on our calendars. It signals the start of summer, the near completion of the school year, and the peak of the promised May flowers that come after the April showers. Above all, however, Memorial Day is a moment to reflect on the heroic sacrifices made by those who paid the ultimate price in military service for our country. The Armed Forces is public employment and has been a stepping stone into the middle class for generations of Americans. Enlisting and serving in the armed forces has positively changed the fortunes of countless American families dating back to the Civil War.  CLICK TO READ MORE

An injury to one, is an injury to all. That’s a deeply held belief in the labor movement, and AFT-Maryland showed up for our labor family from Unite Here Local 7. Members of the union who work concessions at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, held a rally demanding an increase in pay to keep up with the rising cost of inflation.  AFT-Maryland stood in solidarity with the workers who are currently being paid minimum wage. Unite Here Local 7 is demanding $15 an hour and are currently bargaining with the company Delaware North who is the stadium’s concessionaire.  CLICK TO READ MORE

We are devastated and heartbroken to issue yet another statement following another mass shooting taking the lives of students and teachers in a school. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this horrific tragedy. But we are also weary of the helpless feeling that comes with not being able to cease these incidents. When we call on common sense gun legislation, it is not to politicize tragedy, it is an effort to save our children, our teachers, elders at grocery stores, parishioners at their place of worship, and frankly any of us, anywhere we may be.  The solution will not only be... CLICK TO READ MORE

AFT-Maryland as well as the Baltimore Teachers Union, Local 340 are a part of the Baltimore Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) and were involved in efforts to create the people’s education platform. The platform identified 14 different educational priorities parents, students, education professionals, and community members alike could vote for as their top issues. Some of the priorities people could choose were practical job and life skills, significant reduction in standardized testing, as well as more resource classes, field trips, and cultural experiences, just to name a few.  Over the course of about two months, the Baltimore AROS set up... CLICK TO READ MORE

Teacher Appreciation Week 2022 was a great opportunity to welcome community partners back in schools to engage educators and thank them for the work they do. AFT-Maryland took that opportunity to visit with education professionals at the National Academy Foundation (NAF) in East Baltimore. The state federation was represented by President Kenya Campbell, Secretary-Treasurer LaBrina Hopkins, and Community Engagement Director Jeffery Johnson. ​The school hosted... CLICK TO READ MORE

News of Dr. Lillian Lowery’s passing has saddened our state federation deeply. We had the utmost respect for her as a tireless fighter for students across the state of Maryland. Dr. Lowery’s historic term as the first African-American to head the Maryland State Department of Education was monumental for young Black women who aspired for careers in educational administration. She served at every level of education including as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, and superintendent before leading education departments in Delaware and Maryland. Click to Read MORE

The turn of the pages on the calendar to April brings excitement at the anticipation of spring. The season is one that holds a great deal of potential and promise. Many of us will resume some of our favorite outdoor activities; others will try new outdoor ideas for the first time. We know the adage that “April showers, bring May flowers,” and we are eager for the longer, warmer days, even if we have to put up with some rainy ones here and there. This year, the month of April also brings... Click to Read MORE