------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 26, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
Maryland AFSCME workers endorse
MWM GATHERS STEAM
By Steven Ceci Baltimore
Maryland State AFSCME District Council 92 has endorsed the Million Worker March,
set for Oct. 17 in Washington, D.C.
The council represents close to 30,000 state workers. The resolution was reportedly passed overwhelmingly. It had been prompted by a similar resolution passed by AFSCME Area 2, which represents Baltimore metropolitan workers and four other Maryland counties, and AFSCME Local 1072.
Andre Powell, a Local 112 Executive Board member who is helping to organize a subcommittee to plan for buses and mobi lize workers, said: "The workers we represent are underpaid and have been battling privatization, budget cuts and harassment on the job. Some state workers are paid so little that they actually qualify for food stamps. The community too has had to suffer from cutbacks in services."
Powell continued: "The Million Worker March is long overdue. As workers we need to speak in our own name whether we are organized, unorganized, employed or unemployed. We see this march as the beginning of a movement."
Locals, districts and councils of AFSCME-- the State, County and Munici pal Employees--are becoming an important part of the Oct. 17 Million Worker March. AFSCME District Council 1707 President Brenda Stokely in New York City was one of the first and earliest voices to support and organize for the march. She has energized and helped win the support of AFSCME locals around the country.
Pam Parker, outreach coordinator for the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., MWM region, reports: "We have been fielding calls from the Washington, D.C., community. Last night, we spoke with a union member of AFGE-AFSCME who had been disabled on the job. She called us because she represents a group of disabled workers from the District of Columbia who are fighting for compensation for their injuries, wanting to know how she could support the effort."
Parker adds, "Washington, D.C., trade unionists, community and anti-war activists will not only be welcoming marchers, we plan to make the Washing ton, D.C., community a very important part of this mobilization."
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