Union Representatives

The superintendent of Anne Arundel County schools has recommended extending a contract with one of its health care plans to allow time to resolve a grievance filed last month by the teachers union over a proposal to change the company administering the plan. "We just need more time to get the various issues resolved on this," said Superintendent Eric J. Smith. At their meeting tomorrow, school board members will consider whether to negotiate a one-year contract with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the administrator of its "preferred provider" plan, which nearly half of the school system's more than 10,000 employees use. System officials did not know how much such an extension would cost.

A group of parents, teachers and union representatives believe they've found the perfect solution to the shortage of planning time during school hours for elementary teachers.The plan, which has the unanimous approval of the executive boards of the Harford County Education Association -- the teachers union -- and the Harford County Council of PTAs, would start elementary classes one hour late one day a week.Teachers would use that hour to plan lessons, grade papers or meet with other teachers, HCEA President Jean R. Thomas said at a news conference Friday afternoon.

Unionized police officers will vote today on a three-yearcontract that would trim 15 positions from the police force -- but county and police officials say there will be no loss of police coverage because a new schedule will put officers on the road for more hours per shift.Though police officials refuse to comment on the contract until after the vote, county and police union representatives expect the contract to be ratified.County and union representatives agreed to propose a three-year contract because both sides had agreed last year on many issues, including pay increases, specialty payments, overtime, improved equipment and life insurance.

Although physical assaults like the one that took the life of a Baltimore welfare worker yesterday are rare, social services officials and union representatives say the 2,600 employees in Baltimore's Department of Social Services face a growing number of threats, verbal abuse and angry clients."

Neither protests nor petitions kept the Board of Education from approving mandatory four-day furloughs for all school system employees yesterday.Reluctantly and apologetically -- and amid threats of a lawsuit by school unions -- board members voted to require everyone, including School Superintendent Larry L. Lorton, to share the burden of budget cuts requested by County Executive Robert R. Neall.Board members had been told to trim $10.2 million from the schoolsystem's $341 million budget.

Officials of four unions representing school system employees say they want to know why they were told the Board of Education's public work session Monday night -- at which the possibility of eliminating pay raises next year was discussed -- was open to board members only.Dee Zepp, president of the Secretaries and Assistants Association of Anne Arundel County, said she and other union representatives were told by school Superintendent Larry L. Lorton Monday that the meeting would be closed.

Unions representing Baltimore County teachers, teaching assistants and school clerical employees said yesterday that they had reached a tentative agreement with the school board on a contract for the 1993-1994 school year.But school officials said only that agreements are close.In either case, union leaders provided few details at a news conference yesterday, which came after weeks of tense negotiations over a school board proposal that would have given administrators far greater power to transfer, promote and lay off teachers.

Asbestos disclosure is urgedWASHINGTON -- An asbestos-related incident at the Social Security Administration in Maryland that sent hundreds of employees home Monday may result in better communication between management and employees, said the head of the union that represents the workers.In the past, SSA management has had the "paternalistic" attitude of not telling employees about asbestos so that they "don't worry about it," said John Gage, head of Local 1923 of the American Federation of Government Employees.

The stabbing of two correctional officers Wednesday night has prompted union officials to call on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to hold a "prison safety summit" on the rise in violence in Maryland's prisons. The stabbings at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup were the third serious attack on correctional officers this year. A prison guard in Hagerstown was killed in January about two weeks after an uprising by 19 inmates at a Cumberland prison left three officers injured. The officers who were stabbed at the Jessup prison Wednesday were flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center.

USAir Group Inc. yesterday announced that it has reached a tentative deal with its Machinists union on wage cuts and other concessions, a critical part of the stricken airline's bid for survival.Neither the union nor the company released details of the pact, which follows a tentative March accord with the airline's pilots.The pilots agreed to a 22 percent base wage cut, furloughs and work rule changes that together would save USAir $190 million annually. But the pilots' deal is contingent on USAir reaching agreements with unions representing machinists, flight attendants and dispatchers.