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Several local labor leaders weighed in on Gov. Hogan's decision:

Are state workers not Maryland families? Governor Hogan said Maryland families have been tightening their belts, but his new budget makes state workers tighten them even more. ​Under the Governor's budget, well deserved and long overdue Cost of Living increases will be taken back by the State.

Maryland public employees and their families are the very families that Governor Hogan said he ran to help. We can be heard. Join AFT-Maryland Monday February 9, 2015 for Lobby Night in Annapolis. This is an opportunity to discuss Governor Hogan's budget with you state representatives.

February 9, 2015
AFT

The City Union of Baltimore joins in telling Staples: THE U.S. MAIL IS NOT FOR SALE!

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

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

Maryland School for the Deaf members overwhelmingly voted to unionize and they chose AFT. The union election victory is just the first step to getting the demands they deserve.

Check out this video recap of Maryland School for the Deaf workers voting yes on unionization​.

It is rare to get 99% of people to do anything these days, unless it's unionization at the Maryland School for the Deaf. Last week, faculty and staff at the state facility voted 159-2 to unionize, authorizing the Maryland School for the Deaf Faculty and Staff Association, Local 4828 (MSDFSA) to serve as the exclusive bargaining agent for faculty and staff at the school. The huge and historic win comes after years of organizing. AFT-Maryland has supported the faculty and staff at the state institution for more than two decades. In the last few years however, efforts to codify collective

Stop by the AFT table on your campus to get coffee, snacks, and "PINs for ALL" and "I voted AFT" stickers and union swag after you vote!

Click to watch the full video on YouTube.