Digital organizing at UMD

Gliny Gonzalez was anxious. It was late May, and the University of Maryland, College Park — the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland — had just called her back to her job as a Residential Facilities Housekeeper. The university wanted staff like Gliny to clean up after students returning to retrieve their belongings left behind during the abrupt campus shutdown in March. COVID-19 case numbers in Maryland were still high — and the highest case count was in Prince George’s County, where the campus is located. Despite this, and despite the stay-at-home order in place, Gliny’s supervisor told her that she was required to come to work...she soon began noticing symptoms of COVID-19. She was hospitalized days later. So began AFSCME’s fight over the health and safety of workers at public universities in Maryland…
- Stuart Katzenberg (Director of Collective Bargaining and Growth Strategies at AFSCME Council 3) and Todd Holden's (Shop Steward for AFSCME Local 1072, and the local's Interim President) report in The Forge

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