Maryland: Labor Unions Making Headway in Annapolis
According to The Gazette.Net:
ANNAPOLIS — After what union representatives describe as four years of chilly reception from Maryland’s Republican governor, the state has begun warming up again to labor issues.
During his 2006 election bid, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) curried the favor of unions who had supported Robert L. Ehrlich’s predecessor, Democrat Parris N. Glendening, by voicing his support for working families and the middle class, and labor officials say O’Malley has kept his commitment.
‘‘We were big supporters of Governor O’Malley to get him elected,” Rod Easter, president of the AFL-CIO Baltimore Building and Construction Trade Council, said last week. ‘‘Governor Ehrlich didn’t really have an ear to organized labor. We feel like we’ve had a better time getting our issues addressed.”
The Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO, which endorsed O’Malley for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, held a rally in front of the State House in Annapolis on March 3 that drew hundreds of building and construction union members, and the Metropolitan Baltimore Council of AFL-CIO Unions will be back to make itself heard March 31. O’Malley and other officials stated their support for various labor issues to loud cheers from the crowd...click to continue.
