Maryland state employees rally for workplace safety amid COVID-19 surge

USA TODAY NETWORK

State employees caravanned across Maryland on Tuesday to call for safer working conditions as COVID-19 surges around the state.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Maryland Council 3 put on the demonstration, which made stops in Salisbury, Annapolis, Baltimore, Skyesville, Hagerstown and Frostburg.

About 20 employees demonstrated in a parking lot next to a state Division of Parole and Probation office along West Franklin Street in Hagerstown.

The union has raised concerns about COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons, at Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration offices, at state universities and at other locations where state employees continue to work in person.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees gather in a parking lot next to a state Division of Parole and Probation office along West Franklin Street in Hagerstown Tuesday afternoon. They were among a group of state employees traveling in a caravan across the state to protest working conditions in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patrick Moran, the Council 3 president, called on Gov. Larry Hogan to offer greater support and protection for state employees.

"During a pandemic, you want to make sure that people have the resources to do their jobs," Moran said. Hogan has "shown no willingness to do this. His cure for everything is to cut, cut, cut."

AFSCME wants more state employees to work from home where possible. It also wants more personal protective equipment and other safety measures, and more staffing to support the increased workload during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A representative of Hogan's office did not immediately return an email requesting comment.

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More than 850 staff members in Maryland's prisons have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, including dozens at facilities in Hagerstown on the Eastern Shore.

Among those speaking in Hagerstown was Tanzania Merriweather, who works in the local Division of Parole and Probation office.

Merriweather said she and her colleagues need better protection against COVID-19, adding that workers are being asked to reuse the N95 masks issued to them. Merriweather said the masks are only designed for eight to 12 hours of use, but state workers are being told to use them for a week.

Merriweather also said she is worried about dangerous health conditions local state prison workers are facing. There are three state prisons off Sharpsburg Pike south of Hagerstown.

Merriweather looked into a camera recording the event to send a message to Hogan. "Fund the front lines. Send us the resources we need," she said.

Breanna Suiter, an employee in the SETT unit at the Potomac Center in Hagerstown, speaks during a rally Tuesday in a parking lot next to a state Division of Parole and Probation office on West Franklin Street. Suiter said she is worried about working conditions in the center, and said employees had to "fight for masks" to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

Breanna Suiter said she is worried about the working conditions she and other state employees are facing at the Potomac Center on Marshall Street. Suiter works in the center's Secure Evaluation and Therapeutic Treatment unit, also known as the SETT unit.

The courts commit people for evaluation and assessment to the unit to determine their competency to stand trial in criminal cases. Patients there have a developmental or intellectual disability, and some might also have a co-occurring mental-health diagnosis.

Suiter said workers in the unit "had to fight for masks" and when they got them, they were paper ones and not N95 masks.

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Suiter is also worried about staffing levels in the SETT unit, she said, adding that there are currently one to two employees working on cottages in the unit and there should be five to six workers in them.

"This could literally be the difference between life and death," Suiter said of the conditions.

On Tuesday afternoon, after Hogan announced new COVID-19 restrictions on restaurant operating hours and business capacity, Moran criticized the move as doing too little for state employees.

"Governor Hogan's announcement today once again did nothing to mitigate risk for his employees," Moran said in a statement. "Nothing more about PPE, nothing about improved ventilation in public facilities, nothing about increased staffing, nothing about increased telework."

Hagerstown Herald-Mail Media reporter Dave McMillion contributed to this report.

Madeleine O'Neill covers the Maryland State House for the USA Today Network. She can be reached at moneill@gannett.com or on Twitter at @maddioneill.