Union representing over 20,000 state employees rallies in Baltimore as part of a statewide tour to draw attention to critical staffing shortages and outdated state facilities
Baltimore, MD – On Tuesday, December 3, AFSCME Maryland Council 3 members from various state agencies hosted another press conference and rally to call attention to the ongoing neglect of essential state services and facilities. A livestream of the event can be found here.
State employees continue to face dangerously low staffing levels and skyrocketing vacancy rates, impossible workloads and caseloads, and nearly $1 billion in deferred maintenance for state facilities left over from former Governor Larry Hogan’s administration. These facilities include our state hospitals, correctional facilities, and juvenile detention facilities. Making matters worse, the State Center complex in Baltimore is also currently battling a widespread Legionella outbreak.
Stops have been made in Hagerstown and Salisbury. There is one more press conference planned for Cumberland on Thursday, December 19 in front of the North Branch Correctional Institution and Western Correctional Institution parking lots.
Quotes from AFSCME Maryland Council 3 Members:
“A normal workload for me would be fixing 6 vehicles a day, but these days I’m easily tasked with fixing 10 to 12 vehicles. We’re rushing to complete work because we don’t have enough folks to help, and the training that new employees receive is far from adequate. To make matters worse, the buildings we work in are leaking and insulation is literally falling from the ceiling. There’s no proper airflow in our repair shops, so if it’s 80 degrees outside, it might easily be 100 plus degrees inside the bay,” said Bryan Goodman, President of AFSCME Local 174 (which represents employees at the Maryland Aviation Administration) and a Heavy Equipment Maintenance Technician at the Maryland Aviation Administration.
“Our leaders want to establish programs in our facilities, but without adequate staffing, we can’t run them, which takes away opportunities from incarcerated individuals to build a second chance. Officers are being mandated to work overtime again and again, taking a toll on their physical, mental, and emotional health. To make matters worse, our buildings constantly leak, the air conditioning never works, there's mold in the showers and closets, and the control panels that operate the doors don’t work and we don't have a way to maintain or repair them,” said Oluwadamilola Olaniyan, President of AFSCME Local 1678 (which represents correctional employees at the correctional facilities in Jessup) and a Correctional Officer Sergeant at Jessup Correctional Institution.
“This is not just a crisis for correctional officers – this is a crisis for Maryland. When we are short-staffed and forced to work in unsafe facilities, we cannot provide the supervision, programs, and opportunities that inmates need to rehabilitate and reintegrate into society. This puts public safety at risk and undermines the very mission of our department,” said Brittany Cozart, Executive Vice President of AFSCME Local 1427 (which represents correctional employees at the correctional facilities in Baltimore) and a Correctional Officer Sergeant at the Metropolitan Transition Center.
“This work is unsustainable without the proper staffing, resources, training, and policies that we need to be safe. Based on November’s numbers, there are just 11 sergeants across three different shifts monitoring 233 clients that are spread out across the entire state. There are 11 vacant positions, which means that the Home Detention Unit has a vacancy rate of 50%,” said Oluwaseun Dada, a member of AFSCME Local 3661 (which represents employees in the Division of Parole and Probation and community corrections) and a Correctional Officer Sergeant in the Home Detention Unit.
“My shift is usually from 3 PM in the afternoon to 1:30 AM in the mornings, but I often work extended hours just to ensure there is coverage at all times. If we were fully staffed, we’d have at least 10 screeners at all times, but we’re lucky if we even get 3 or 4, especially during the overnight shifts. The workload is too high, the morale is too low, and the pay is just not worth it given how much stress and threats of violence we face in this work,” said Mary Townes, a member of AFSCME Local 112 (which represnts employees in the Department of Human Services) and a Family Services Caseworker at the Baltimore City Department of Social Services.
“When I’m the only social worker on my wards, there’s only so many patients I can discharge, which in turn slows down how many new patients we can admit. This means that there are people who desperately need treatment but are instead languishing away in our jails. The process to discharge someone takes time, and I can only work on 3 to 5 discharges at any given point. Our hospital is then spending resources dealing with fines and sanctions from the courts because people are facing such long delays before they can be admitted. No one wins,” said Miriam Doyle, a union steward for AFSCME Local 557 (which represents employees at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center) and a social worker at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center.
“And right behind me, State Center buildings are battling legionella bacteria in the water. The State confirmed on the Monday before Thanksgiving that legionella is still present in the State Center buildings. They’ve failed to communicate a timeline or process for flushing the 201 and 301 buildings. And yet, the State has made people come back into the office even with the bacteria still in the water and the air. As state employees, we do this work because we care, because we want to serve our communities. But that doesn’t mean we should be forced to put our bodies on the line to do this work,” said Diane Williams, Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME Local 1535 (which represents state employees in Baltimore City) and a Revenue Specialist at the Comptroller’s Office.
“Now is not the time to shy away from the budget crisis our state is facing. And in order to tackle this crisis in a sustainable way, our state leaders must be bold about growing the revenues that our state needs. That means closing tax loopholes that only benefit large corporations. That means making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share,” said Patrick Moran, President of AFSCME Maryland Council 3.
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About AFSCME Maryland Council 3
AFSCME Maryland Council 3 represents nearly 45,000 public service workers at the local, city, county, state, and higher education levels who provide the valuable public services that our communities rely on. From Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore, we make Maryland happen.
