News

AFT Healthcare-Maryland president Debra Perry has called for an immediate investigation of unsafe working conditions at the Thomas B. Finan Center in Cumberland, Maryland, where a staff member was brutally attacked and injured October 14th.  The staff member was stabbed in the back of the head with a seven-inch galvanized spike while trying to restrain a combative patient.

According to Perry, the attack underscores the need for a comprehensive violence prevention program, as recommended by the Ocupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Perry called for a thorough investigation into

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In Unity,

Debra Perry, President-AFT Healthcare-Maryland

When the Maryland legislature votes on the final budget, the pay raise, scheduled for January 2014 and a Step Increase, scheduled for April 2014 will be law.
 

AFT Healthcare-Maryland president Debra Perry reports that a bill before the Maryland Senate intended to strengthen violence prevention standards in health care facilities across the state has been withdrawn.

Reportedly, the bill’s sponsor, Senator Katherine Klausmeier (D), was told by nursing home representatives that they already have sufficient standards and methods for dealing with workplace violence. Delegate Tom Hucker (D), who introduced a similar bill in the Maryland House of Representatives, expressed disappointment at the Senate bill’s withdrawal.

The bill would have required public

AFT Healthcare-Maryland president Debra Perry reports that the leaders of two labor organizations representing healthcare professionals announced on February14 that they have approved an affiliation agreement that will bring 34,000 registered nurses into the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the largest union of professionals in the AFL-CIO. The National Federation of Nurses, which represents nurses across the country, will affiliate with the AFT, whose 1.5 million members include more than 48,000 nurses and thousands of other healthcare professionals.  Click here for more details.
 

AFT Healthcare-Maryland reports that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget includes a significant increase in the state’s Healthcare costs. The governor’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which begins July 1 of this year, includes $10.4 billion for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene—an increase of 4 percent or $397.6 million more than that provided in F.Y. 2013. Of those funds, $54 million are directed to fund rate increases for healthcare providers, $42 million to a 2.5 percent increase for community service providers, $8 million to raise rates for psychiatrists

Such workers should have been paid two hours for each hour worked and should have been credited with two days of compensation time for each day worked. Several state departments failed to compensate employees correctly.

MPEC President Maria Mathias and AFT Healthcare-Maryland President Debra Perry