Service Workers

After two years of sometimes-stormy negotiations, the University of Maryland, College Park reached a tentative settlement yesterday with the union representing about 1,800 maintenance and service workers and other staff. The agreement with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees calls for a 4.1 percent pay increase in July, the first raise for workers in two years. It also retains the tuition benefit for the families of employees and limits increases in parking rates for workers.

Loyal readers of this page are likely aware that we have not been great supporters of the tea party movement. Too often, we have found those anti-tax crusaders who call themselves tea party patriots are simply rebranded John Birch Society members of an earlier time with all the extremist anti-civil rights, anti-immigration, and anti-United Nations rhetoric that comes with it. But the latest disclosure - gleaned from a draft inspector general's report...

The key to breaking Baltimore out of economic "stagnation" is for employers - particularly hospitals - to pay low-income service workers higher wages, a health care union argues in a controversial new report. The study, called "Putting Baltimore's People First," is a call to think of economic development in terms of salaries, since workers spend their money locally. It was prepared by the Service Employees International Union District 1199E-DC and released at a press conference at First Baptist Church, in the shadow of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

There's no magic bullet that will suddenly solve all the problems in a community like Baltimore's Oliver neighborhood, not even the small army of city officials who descended on the East Baltimore community this week. But the effort is still worth it if it gives city police and social service workers a better understanding of the issues that put residents at risk and allows them to come up with better strategies to help other struggling neighborhoods. Oliver is not necessarily the city's most troubled community, but its problems are serious and deep-seated: poverty, unemployment, an inventory of more than 200 boarded-up, vacant houses and a flourishing street-corner drug trade that fuels periodic outbursts of deadly gun violence.

The hospital service workers union and Johns Hopkins Hospital reached a contract agreement yesterday just seven minutes before workers were to walk out for a three-day strike. The union is to continue discussions with Sinai Hospital today and with Greater Baltimore Medical Center on Monday. Job actions planned for today and tomorrow at both hospitals have been canceled. After two one-day strikes earlier this year, the Service Employees International Union's local - District 1199E-DC - had planned for the local's 2,400 members to participate in a three-day job action at the three hospitals.

Seeking higher wages and a better chance to expand union coverage, nearly 2,500 service workers are scheduled to stage a one-day walkout tomorrow at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Sinai Hospital. Officials of all three hospitals said they expect to be able to operate normally, using supervisors and volunteers. The union represents dietary, housekeeping, maintenance and clerical workers, along with technicians and patient-care aides. The walkout is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. "It should be business as usual," said Jill Bloom, a spokeswoman for Sinai.

Maryland is one of three states that requires workers in certain occupations to report child abuse but whose law doesn't include criminal sanctions against those who fail to do so, according to a state legislative analysis. That distinction met with renewed criticism last week after a Baltimore Sun investigation by Tricia Bishop revealed court records claiming that a Catholic school principal and other Catholic officials were aware of a teacher's sexual abuse of students, but didn't report it until the teacher was under investigation - years after the crimes took place in the 1970s.

USAir workers who load and unload aircraft voted overwhelmingly yesterday to unionize, giving the airline another headache as it tries to work its way out of a financial morass.But because none of the three unions competing to represent the 7,687 fleet service workers received a majority of votes, a runoff election will be held this summer to determine whether the United Steelworkers of America or the International Association of Machinists -- the two top vote-getters -- will represent the USAir workers.

IT IS TROUBLING to see 170 employees of Broadway Services Inc. still denied the wage increase the city promised contracted service workers more than a year ago. After all, that company supported the city's decision to improve the floor wage paid to janitors, cafeteria workers and others who are employed by private companies to work at city buildings.Broadway Services president Tom McGowan even predicted some companies might not pass on their increased labor costs to the city because they would want to remain competitive in bidding for city work.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday that he supported a plan to boost the minimum wage for janitors, groundskeepers and other service workers employed by private contractors at Baltimore facilities.But he cautioned that a financial crisis could prevent the raise, which would take effect in mid-1995."The understanding is that there has to be sufficient money for the raise to occur. No one wants us to take from other needed programs," Mr. Schmoke said after reaching a compromise over the measure.

Maryland is one of three states that requires workers in certain occupations to report child abuse but whose law doesn't include criminal sanctions against those who fail to do so, according to a state legislative analysis. That distinction met with renewed criticism last week after a Baltimore Sun investigation by Tricia Bishop revealed court records claiming that a Catholic school principal and other Catholic officials were aware of a teacher's sexual abuse of students, but didn't report it until the teacher was under investigation - years after the crimes took place in the 1970s.

Having shown national leadership on marriage equality and fair treatment of immigrant children, Maryland has the opportunity to turn its attention to the plight of workers who have no access to paid sick days. The ability to earn paid sick days allows workers to avoid the choice of going to work sick or going without pay - and maybe even losing a job. Employers, workers, and the public would all benefit from such a standard. The many employers that already provide paid sick leave would have a level playing field with their competitors, and all would more easily maintain a healthy workplace.

Citing the "bravery of two" but noting the "valor of all" their colleagues, the state's governor and city's mayor lauded Thursday the workers who helped save an infant being stabbed at a social services office in East Baltimore. William Purnell Short III hit the suspect with a chair, forcing her to drop the infant, and Dana Hayes screamed for help, prompting a flurry of 911 calls that got police and paramedics quickly to the social services complex on Biddle Street on April 24. Short held the suspect — who police said bit him on the hands — until police arrived.

Editor: "Illegal aliens," "undocumented workers," "unwanted immigrants" and a host of other monikers have been given to migrants to any country. The first settlers (illegal aliens) in the Mexican territories of Texas and California in the early and mid-1800s were not well received by the Mexican people either. Wars were fought and lands confiscated so this country could fulfill its "manifest destiny" of controlling all the land between the two oceans even though the land belonged to native Americans.

Elinor Ehle, a retired civil service worker who lived in a downtown rowhouse for more than five decades, died of pulmonary hypertension March 6 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was 95. Born Elinor Duker in Baltimore, she was raised in a Charles Street mansion owned by her father, a wooden box manufacturer. Her home stood in what was then a rural part of the city - near 39th Street. She could recall the construction of many of the homes of the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood and later assisted in a community history.

A Department of Juvenile Services employee has been placed on administrative leave, and all of the agency's caseworkers in Baltimore are being trained to conduct criminal background checks, officials announced yesterday. The moves come in response to the case of a teenage drug dealer who was sent home with his mother, who was on probation for a drug offense. The teen, Farron Tates, was arrested last week on adult murder charges. In January, just before his 16th birthday, three of his juvenile drug distribution cases were resolved with a plea to one count, and he was put on probation and sent home with his mother, Bridgette Tates.

Sinai Hospital announced last night that it reached a tentative contract with its service workers, becoming the second of three Baltimore-area hospitals to settle protracted labor disputes with their unionized staffs. The hospital agreed to a three-year pact that would raise the pay of its service workers to $9.75 an hour by the third year, a hospital spokeswoman said. "We're very pleased to finally have this settled and to get back to business as usual without any further interruptions," said Sinai spokeswoman Jill Bloom.

The rush in Congress to undo the welfare state has not been distinguished by pinpoint aim. Along with drastic changes in everything from welfare benefits to school lunches, House Republicans also voted to gut national service programs that had been enacted with bipartisan support.If it seems strange to undo programs like AmeriCorps, which provides full-time workers to help spark wider volunteer efforts in communities across America, the explanation is pure politics. President Clinton, who expanded a national service program enacted under President Bush, has identified his administration with these efforts, lauding service as the kind of government program he wants to encourage.

Ruby I. Timanus, a retired food service supervisor, died of chronic lung disease Saturday at Carroll Hospital Center. The Westminster resident was 85. Born Ruby Irene Subock in Baltimore and raised in Woodlawn, she attended Baltimore County public schools. In 1939, she went to work at Mrs. Filbert's Margarine Co. in Southwest Baltimore. She retired in 1985 as a foreman at Martin Gillet Co., manufacturer of mayonnaise and salad dressings. Mrs. Timanus, who moved to Westminster 26 years ago, enjoyed gardening, crocheting and crossword puzzles.

A union official sharply criticized the state Department of Juvenile Services yesterday for demoting 11 workers who collected overtime pay for training sessions they could not attend -- payments that were authorized by a supervisor who also was disciplined. Ron Bailey, executive director of American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 92, said the agency was "scapegoating" workers at the Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County for its management failures.