News

AFT-Maryland Aids Kansas Organizing Effort

AFT-Maryland staff and affiliate members journeyed to Wichita, Kansas, March 9-14 for a week of intensive training in the AFT organizing model and to help the Kansas Organization of State Employees (KOSE) identify potential activists and recruit new union members. The AFT-Maryland volunteers joined union members from Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, and Kansas in the joint organizing effort, which was launched as a part of the “Reclaiming the Promise of High Quality Public Services for Strong Communities,” an AFT national initiative."

AFT Secretary-Treasurer Lorretta Johnson launched

NPR looking for on-the-job injuries that affect nurses, CNA's and other staff at hospitals and nursing homes

NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling and colleagues are researching on-the-job injuries that affect nurses, CNA’s and other staff at hospitals and nursing homes. If you have suffered a back, neck, shoulder or other injury that interferes with your work – and even your daily life – will you please contact us through this survey? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lMJNg602x8TKHjK42e1IDUbZKA2iGd2npnF5D7ptbno/viewform?usp=sharing

Support SB 483 for workplace violence prevention

AFT Healthcare-Maryland President Debra Perry submitted testimony in favor of Senate Bill 483 February 20th. That bill proposes additional protections for workers in healthcare facilities. Perry’s testimony documented numerous incidents of violence that had befallen healthcare workers in state facilities and requested that legislators pass the bill SB 483.

The bill calls for the creation of a committee to study workplace violence prevention measures and the establishment of specific procedures that greatly reduce the opportunities for a violent incident to occur in state healthcare facilities.

We know that AFT members are heroes who are reclaiming the promise every day, and we want to hear about them!

Do you know an AFT member who has made a difference in his or her workplace? Someone who has had a profound and positive impact on the community? Someone whose extraordinary contribution in his or her field of work, or to the lives of others, has been heroic?

Please nominate your Everyday Hero by filling out a brief form by Jan. 31, 2014, at www.aft.org/everydayheroes, and you will be entered to win a $250 gift card.

We will identify semifinalists from each of our constituencies:

AFT-Maryland Legislative Reception, 2014

Join your fellow union members and members of the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates at the AFT-Maryland 2014 Legislative Reception. Jan. 29, 5:30-7:30 at the Maryland Inn, 16 Church Cir., Annapolis. Read more...

JOIN US for Lobby Night

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Buses leave from AFT-Maryland's parking lot at 5:30 p.m., and will return around 9:00 p.m. Sandwiches & soft drinks will be provided on the bus. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.

Bonuses, Increases Scheduled for State Employees

AFT Healthcare-Maryland President Debra Perry reports that her union and the Department of Health and Human Resources have worked together to enable registered nurses who provide direct care to patients in the state’s 24/7 hospitals to receive a $300 bonus if they work all of their scheduled shifts throughout the month of December and do not call out.

Perry also reminds state employees that they will receive a 3 percent COLA increase in January thanks to AFT-Healthcare and the Maryland Professional Employees Council.

Holiday Open House @ 201 W Preston, 12/3

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"17873","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image media-image-right","height":"600","style":"width: 125px; height: 158px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 5px; float: right;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"476"}}]]AFT-Maryland President, Marietta English, invites you to share some holiday cheer with us at a

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Tues., December 3, 2013
12 noon to 2:00 p.m.
201 West Preston St., Room L-2
Baltimore, MD 21201
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"9356","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"256","style":"width: 15px; height: 15px;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"256"}}]] Click here for event flyer.

AFT Healthcare-Maryland president Debra Perry reports that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) and the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing are co-sponsoring free training courses for all DHMH nurses. An online course, "Immunization Techniques Training for Nurses,” teaches the skills necessary for vaccination administration and child restraint, and prepares healthcare professionals licensed and approved to provide vaccinations in Maryland with the necessary fundamentals to qualify them for 1 CNE contact hour.

In addition, nurses have an opportunity to validate their

MPEC, AFT Healthcare Contract Negotiations Meeting Scheduled

The Maryland Professional Employees Council (MPEC) and AFT Healthcare-Maryland will continue their negotiations with state officials on a new Memorandum of Understanding in a meeting scheduled for November 1, 2013, at the Maryland Department of Transportation in Hanover, Maryland. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.