Due to the threatened attacks on Baltimore County employees benefits and rights by the County Executive and Council, we are urging union members in Baltimore County to stand together in opposition to proposed Bills 6-13* and 7-13**.
Members of BCFPE, AFSCME Local 921, FOP Lodge #4 and other Baltimore County Workers are at risk of losing rights if these bills pass. We have only a couple short weeks to fight against the negative changes these bills would bring but together, we can do it!
Both meetings will be held at The Historic Courthouse, 400 Washington Avenue Room 205 Towson, MD 21204.
CLICK HERE to send a message to your local councilperson.
We will contact our members shortly with logistics and further details of how we will move forward in protecting the rights of County employees and stopping the unfair shift of power from the employees to the County Executive. These same bills have been introduced before, but were defeated by a small margin and are on track to pass this time if union members do not make a strong showing and stop them.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact Christine Curry or Chris Settle at (410) 764-3030, or at ccurry@aft-maryland.org or csettle@aft-maryland.org respectively.
* Bill 6-13: Would establish a non-binding process to resolve disputes between the Health Care Review Committee and the County. The County Executive would have full power and would be free to reject any recommendations of the Arbitration Panel in any Healthcare dispute. This bill would get rid of the current fair process, taking all power away from the employee and placing that power into the hand of the County Executive alone. This bill would remove a level of fairness and further weaken the collective strength of unions.
** Bill 7-13: This bill would take disputes that involve retirement and disability benefits from the Board of Appeals (a neutral entity) and have those disputes instead be handled by the Office of Administrative Hearings, an entity that is appointed by the County Executive. Again, this bill would take a fair and neutral dispute process and turn it into one that is biased and controlled by the county executive.
Both of the processes mentioned above work effectively now, why change them?