AFT-Maryland Supports Collective Bargaining for Baltimore Police Officers

Testimony of

Mr. Jeffery Johnson

of the

American Federation of Teachers—Maryland

Before the

House Appropriations Committee

Distinguished Chairman and Honorable Members of the Committee, I want to thank you for the opportunity to address you today. My name is Jeffery Johnson and I am here representing the American Federation of Teachers—Maryland. AFT-Maryland represents more than 20,000 workers in this state, including teachers, nurses and healthcare workers, professional state employees, corrections officers, county employees and many others who live and work in the state of Maryland and in the City of Baltimore.

On behalf of our members, I want to express AFT-Maryland’s support for the passage of HR 756. This bill proposes that Baltimore police officers be permitted to employ binding arbitration during the negotiation of their contracts.

When a dispute between labor and government administrators arises and an impasse results, no one wins. Police morale is lowered. The city is left without well-defined parameters for its law enforcement agency. The citizens are left in limbo—uncertain whether they can rely or depend on the protections their law enforcement officers are supposed to provide.

Binding arbitration is a proven and time tested method of resolving contract disputes.  It makes sense. When two sides engaged in the negotiation of a contract come to an impasse, an independent third party, an arbitrator, with no bias toward either of the two negotiating parties, is allowed to resolve that conflict.

Binding arbitration has been used and, indeed, is being used by Maryland employees today.  In the last election, workers in BaltimoreCounty were successful in placing binding arbitration on the November ballot. That initiative, known then as Question A, passed in BaltimoreCounty by a margin of two to one.

This is a clear indication that not only state and city workers, but the public at large recognizes binding arbitration as a fair and equitable means of resolving contract conflicts.

We see no reason why the police officers of BaltimoreCity should not have access to binding arbitration, particularly when Baltimore firefighters and police officers in other jurisdictions in Maryland already have and utilize this negotiating tool.

We respectfully encourage the members of this committee support and promote the application of binding arbitration in the negotiation of contracts for the BaltimoreCity police officers.

Thank you.