This article was republished with permission from 海角社区app’s news partners at .听Sign up for today.
This content was republished with permission from 海角社区app鈥檚 news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for today.
Workers at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender (OPD) have voted to unionize.
In balloting that took place between Nov. 15 and Dec. 1, the employees voted to certify AFSCME Maryland Council 3, the public employee union, as their exclusive bargaining representative.
The votes were tallied by the Maryland Labor Relations Board on Tuesday afternoon.
One bargaining unit will consist of administrative and support staff, and another bargaining unit will consist of intake staff, investigators, social workers and attorneys. Those two bargaining units span the entire state and cover over 600 workers at the public defender鈥檚 office.
For the unit representing intake staff, social workers, investigators and attorneys, workers voted 233-8 in favor of joining the union. The vote to join the union by the unit representing administrative and support staff was 45-1.
鈥淔or too long, we鈥檝e been discounted, disrespected and undervalued. Decisions have been made that draw dividing lines between us and ultimately affect the work we are able to do for our clients,鈥� said Kalia Woods, an administrative aide with the Prince George鈥檚 County OPD office. 鈥淲e have sent a message with this vote that we are standing together to say 鈥榥ot anymore.鈥�
This success comes after more than two years of organizing efforts by these workers. They formed the Maryland Defenders Union in 2020, citing inadequate staffing levels, record high turnover rates, and unreasonable workloads and caseloads for deciding to unionize.
鈥淪taff are leaving because there aren鈥檛 enough resources to do our jobs adequately and ethically, because of oppressive workloads and caseloads that never get more manageable and because we have been ignored when calling out for change,鈥� said Marci Tarrant Johnson, a public defender in the Baltimore City OPD office and president of the Maryland Defenders Union.
听as the Maryland public defender on July 1, taking over from Paul DeWolfe, who held the job for 13 years and had worked at the agency since 1980.
In the 2022 General Assembly session, lawmakers听听from state Sen. Pam Beidle (D-Anne Arundel) and Del. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel) to expand collective bargaining rights to OPD employees, including changing the designation of attorneys in the office from special appointee status to merit status.
鈥淚鈥檝e been at OPD for over 11 years, fighting for more just systems and outcomes for our clients every day. I鈥檝e seen our collective voices finally be heard in a way that our individual voices simply are not,鈥� said Angie Chou, a social worker with the Prince George鈥檚 County OPD office. 鈥淣ow that we鈥檝e won the right to negotiate our wages and working conditions, we鈥檙e able to accomplish even more. We鈥檙e going to continue to fight for the resources we need to positively impact all of us at OPD, our clients and their communities.鈥�
The workers at the Office of the Public Defender will join the 30,000 Maryland state and higher education employees who have collective bargaining rights in their agencies and workplaces.
鈥淭ogether, we will continue to organize for the pay, respect and better working conditions every state worker deserves,鈥� said Patrick Moran, president of AFSCME Maryland Council 3.
