Maryland Public Library Employees Fight For Choice For A Voice

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Library workers from across Maryland went to Annapolis yesterday to protest the hiring of "union avoidance" and lobby firm of Alexander & Cleaver by several Maryland counties to oppose legislation granting collective bargaining rights to county library systems. The librarians, represented by UFCW Local 1994, testified in Annapolis on Tuesday in support of the bill. Click here for more on this issue, including why Del. Tom Hucker (D, Maryland Dist. 20), called it "ironic" that "at a time of tremendous pressure on county budgets and serious budget cuts, the Maryland Association of Public Library Administrators has found enough discretionary revenue to hire one of the most expensive firms in Annapolis to deny librarians the basic right to association and free speech." - photo by Greg Kenefick