Proposed budget cuts would be “absolutely devastating to the people of Maryland,” says AFSCME Maryland president Patrick Moran. Multiple unions are planning a car caravan and rally tonight in Annapolis (see Calendar above), on the eve of the next Board of Public Works meeting, to show their opposition to the proposed cuts. Many of the state’s departments have been short staffed for quite a while, according to AFSCME. Ashley Watson, an AFSCME union member and case management specialist for the Department of Juvenile Services, said that her department was understaffed before the pandemic. Jason Suggs, a claims associate for unemployment at the state Department of Labor in Prince George’s County warns that pay cuts may drive people out of the profession. “It’s hard to find people who are qualified who would want to take this job for the pay when you look at the amount of stress,” said Suggs, who is president of an AFSCME local. Read more here.