EHRLICH & STEELE Hang Maryland Workers "OUT TO DRY!" Read!

[AuntiBush]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 16, 2005

EHRLICH AND STEELE HANG MARYLAND WORKERS OUT TO DRY

Maryland Democratic Party Chair Terry Lierman reacted angrily to the stunning disclosure today that state-run offices responsible for enforcing child labor, minimum wage and prevailing wage laws will be closing, even after the legislature passed a bill directing the Governor to keep them open.

“The Ehrlich/Steele administration has taken perhaps the most egregious and unjust action in its two and a half years of ineffective leadership of our State,” said Lierman. “We’re seeing an unconscionable assault on the democratic process and a devastating betrayal of working men and women in our State. These offices were the last line of defense for working people who count on the government to protect them.”

Lierman stated that many workers in Maryland face considerable obstacles and injustices, and that many of the most vulnerable are immigrants. A study of the low-wage workforce in Maryland, issued earlier this year by the Maryland Latino Coalition for Justice, showed that “workers suffer from repeated and sometimes extreme exploitation at the hand of employers” and that “reported cases of nonpayment of earned wages and minimum wage and overtime compensation violations were common.”

“It is especially outrageous that the administration is blaming the legislature for closing this office,” said Lierman. “It was the Democratic legislature that ensured the money was in the budget to keep these offices open.”

This year, the Democratic legislature also raised the minimum wage in Maryland from $5.15 per hour to $6.15 per hour, an increase that would have benefited nearly 60,000 families in the State. The Governor vetoed the bill in May. Now the Ehrlich/Steele administration is “shamelessly preventing the enforcement of a wage law that is already inadequate for our working families,” according to Lierman. Moreover, the office collected about $1 million in unpaid wages in 2003, said Lierman.

“This administration has no respect for Marylander workers, and no regard for human rights, children’s rights, worker rights or civil rights,” said Lierman. “Working families need a champion, not a tool of big business.”

http://www.mddems.org/

[newswolf56]

1. Absolutely predictable...

...especially to those of us who remember the Reagan Administration and how it savaged workplace safety. Organizing opposition to this Republican war on working families should be the centerpiece of all Democratic campaigning, whether local, state or national. We should demand this of ALL Democratic politicians NOW. But don't hold your breath; things will have to get much much worse before the appropriate class-consciousness begins to (re)develop.

[tabasco]

2. Thanks for posting this.

I am so focused and outraged at the crimes of the Bush cabal that I don't follow State news nearly enough.

I use Opera and have a problem with that site, though.

[AuntiBush]

3. Same here! What a mess, huh! There is more about our Gov -

Haven't had time to post. Like you, I'm focused on the DSM'S.