Union officials representing police, firefighters and school system employees in Prince George’s County said they deserve a pay raise, especially if the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is able to get a 2 percent cost-of-living wage increase for its county employees. “I cannot recall where one group’s gotten a pay raise and others have not, or at least some sort of equivalent,” said Andrew Pantelis, the president of the Local 1619 union that represents more than 1,300 firefighters and emergency medical service technicians in the county.
Under new legislation before the County Council, about 1,200 AFSCME members
would receive a cost-of-living wage increase, although Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker’s budget calls for freezing the pay for all county employees.
AFSCME officials said former County Executive Jack Johnson agreed to the cost-of-living pay increase before leaving office last year.
But Baker, who is against the legislation, said the wage increase would cost the county $1.6 million a year and pressure the county to give all county employees and unions a 2 percent raise. That would cost the county a total of $12 million a year, something it cannot afford, budget director Thomas Himler said.
Vince Canales, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89, said he was already planning on asking the county for a salary increase for his union’s workers and said if the county increases the pay for AFSCME, it would signal that perhaps the county’s financial situation is “not as dire as they initially were saying.”
Canales said he isn’t opposed to AFSCME’s deal with Johnson, who was term-limited and left office in December. He has since been charged with corruption-related offenses.
“I have been an advocate for each group negotiates their own contract and therefore the county does not have to provide the same benefit for all,” he said.
Council Chairwoman Ingrid Turner, D-Bowie, said the legislation likely will come up for a vote May 17.
An official with the Prince George’s County Educators Association, which represents the county’s teachers, could not be reached for comment.
Despite seeing the school system cutting many employees, Carnell Reed, who leads the Service Employees International Union Local 400 representing more than 1,000 school custodians, engineers and technicians, said the County Council should recognize Johnson’s promise to AFSCME.
But then he added: “We haven’t received a pay raise in three years.”
