From Bobby Ballard, a Field Maintenance Tech IV in the State Highway Administration:
During my time as a supervisor, I’ve seen opportunities for better pay and more resources slip past us. Not anymore, now that I have been working with other supervisors in MDOT to organize our supervisors union with AFSCME.
As frontline, essential workers, we are uniting with supervisors in other agencies to demand fair compensation and a seat at the table where our concerns are no longer ignored. I’ve signed my AFSCME membership/authorization card to vote YES for this opportunity.
Over the years I’ve seen AFSCME fight hard for and win improvements for MDOT non-supervisory employees.
And now is the time we as supervisors all vote YES for AFSCME to join that fight and get what we deserve:
- Our union AFSCME advocates for higher pay and better compensation for the vital work that we do. Over the past two years AFSCME members have won over 20% in increases. Sometimes, as supervisors, we get the increases too, but not always (because it’s not guaranteed without a union contract).
We need to raise our voices at the negotiating table for proper raises for supervisors that reflect our duties and years of service. - Our union AFSCME is taking on First Responder’s Pay for MDOT workers. Our work requires us to constantly be in dangerous situations and respond to accident scenes to make sure those on the roads are safe. We even sign a paper every year stating we’re essential employees!
Together with other AFSCME members, we can negotiate proper compensation that reflects the critical nature of the work we do. - Our union AFSCME fights to protect our time in and out of work. AFSCME members that we supervise have been able to enforce policies that protect their time outside of work, and we should do the same.
We need to have a voice in making our own on-call policies, fighting for on-call pay, and constructing our own on-call schedules that work for our lives and families.
To get what we deserve, we need to certify our union and negotiate a union contract. But, we can’t do that until a majority of supervisors sign the dual membership/authorization card, which is your YES vote.
If you have not already signed our card recently, join me in signing your card TODAY, so we can win our union and get to the table.
You can sign the AFSCME supervisor’s card here.
If you have any questions, please ask me the next time you see me or email [email protected].
East Shore State Highway Administration. Bobby Ballard is second from the right, in the back row.