Md. Gov. Wes Moore, lawmakers stand with unionized state and federal employees

Hannah Gaskill, Baltimore Sun on Mar 24, 2025

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With just two weeks left of the legislative session, Gov. Wes Moore gathered with dozens of public sector union members Monday to advocate for the passage of labor protection bills in the face of federal cuts.

“All of our state workers, all of our federal workers who call Maryland home, we want to let you know we’ve got you today, we’ve got you tomorrow, and we’ve got you always and that’s our pledge,” Moore said at an Annapolis news conference. “Because we will win, because we have justice on our side, and the people will never forget that.”

The Maryland Chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) joined forces with Moore and a slew of lawmakers to push for the passage of two bills poised to protect civil service employees who face employment uncertainty under President Donald Trump.

Trump has defended the widespread cuts in his effort to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

Sponsored by House Majority Whip Jazz Lewis, a Prince George’s County Democrat, the Protect Our Federal Workers Act would create the Federal Government Employee Assistance Loan Fund to provide money to Maryland residents who worked for the federal government but were terminated by the Trump administration during the ongoing waves of mass firings.

The bill passed out of the House chamber with an amendment to provide an additional $1.5 million to Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, to sue the Trump administration on behalf of terminated federal employees. It has yet to move in the Senate chamber.

“The Protect Our Federal Workers Act is about making sure you’re not left behind if your agency faces cuts, closures or chaos, because federal workers and contractors deserve the same protection and peace of mind that everyone should have and everyone would expect,” Ottis Johnson, the national vice president of the 14th District of AFGE, said.

Johnson praised the Moore administration for supporting the more than 160,000 thousand federal workers who live in Maryland and are at risk of being laid off. Johnson highlighted Moore’s initiative to recruit federal employees into state government jobs, his partnership with local governments to hold job fairs, and the launch of a website for impacted federal workers to access resources like unemployment insurance and health coverage.

Johnson said his union is bringing people who were unjustly fired back into the workforce. He said he received several emails today alerting him that workers at USAID and other agencies have started to be reinstated.

“Let our people come back to work,” Johnson said. “Please.”

Lewis said that federal workers are under attack “not because they did anything wrong, not because they weren’t doing their jobs, but because Donald Trump and his allies … have decided” that public service is unnecessary.

“This bill will make sure that Maryland is ready to defend our federal workforce by giving standing to our attorney general to sue the hell out of the federal government,” he said.

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