Saying that the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has not done enough to keep officers and staff safe, AFSCME Local 898 President Jeff Grabenstein last week said that “We need to lockdown these facilities, receive training on how to deal with a potential drug outbreak and improve our mail screening procedures.”
Two workers at the Western Correctional Institution were sent to the hospital last week after being potentially exposed to a letter soaked in an unknown substance. Other states changed mail processing procedures, put their facilities on full lockdowns and implemented a variety of other safety measures after facilities in Pennsylvania and Ohio were exposed to airborne fentanyl last month, sending dozens to seek medical treatment. “We are very concerned,” said Grabenstein, “especially for our mailroom and administration employees, that without enhanced screening Maryland facilities could face a serious outbreak.” AFSCME Local 898 said it’s continuing to fight for enhanced safety procedures at all Maryland Correctional Institutions. On this week’s labor calendar, mark your calendar for tomorrow night’s “Speak Out to Save Providence Hospital!” 7 to 9pm at Plymouth Congregational Church in northeast DC. For all the latest local labor news and calendar postings, check out our website at dclabor.org, where you can also subscribe free to “Union City,” our award-winning daily newsletter. In today's labor history, New York City’s Union Square, the site of the first Labor Day in 1882, was officially named a national historic landmark on this date in 1998. The square has long been a focal point for working class protest and political expression. Today’s labor quote is by Eugene Debs, labor leader and socialist, sentenced to 10 years in jail on this date in 1918 for opposing World War I. Gene Debs, who said: “The working class who make the sacrifices, who shed the blood, have never yet had a voice in declaring war. The ruling class has always made the war and made the peace.”
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