Health And Retirement On The Chopping Block

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

About 10 percent of the cost of healthcare may soon be pushed onto state workers in Maryland if Governor Martin O’Malley accepts recent recommendations proposed by the Commission on the Sustainability of Public Employee and Retiree Health and Pension Benefits, reports AFSCME Council 67. Among other issues, the recommendations also have the potential to eliminate state workers’ defined pensions. “We have had no pay raise in years and have suffered through O’Malley’s furloughs,” says Council 67. “Enough is enough! Protect our hard-earned pensions and health benefits.” AFSCME members are planning three days of action this month to tell Governor O’Malley “that we have sacrificed to help our state.” Click here for details or click here to send a message to Governor O’Malley urging him to “reject any recommendations of the Commission if they would cut employee or retiree benefits.”