By This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it | Corridor Inc. Staff Writer

Originally published April 2007

Susan J. Schurman, president of the National Labor College, walks on campus with potential student Ray Nelley of the Carpenters Union. Photo by Lisa Helfert.

     While membership across the country has been waning, Maryland is primed to give unions some renewed visibility with a progressive governor and an AFL-CIO college with a new $26 million facility.

     A living wage and greater access to healthcare have been creating a buzz in Annapolis. They are issues Gov. Martin O’Malley stumped for and are also top priorities for union leaders.

     These are “everyone issues,” said Fred Mason, president of the Maryland and Washington, D.C. AFL-CIO, which represents 350,000 local union members, from airline pilots and teachers to electrical workers and roofers.

     After four years of Republican leadership, Mason and other leaders are ready to address these and other concerns that affect working families in the state.

     “We believe with a new administration we have a person in Martin O’Malley that’s interested in the growth and development of Maryland for all Marylanders and doesn’t see as mutually exclusive the issues between business and workers,” said Mason.

     “The AFL-CIO and labor have been among our state’s greatest assets as we work for a better tomorrow for the people of Maryland,” said O’Malley in an e-mail.

     But that makes some business advocates weary.

     Robert O.C. Worcester, president of the Maryland Business for Responsive Government, a non-partisan organization that works to improve Maryland's business climate, believes in the long run the governor will take “an even-handed approach with business.”

     But, organized labor was influential in O’Malley’s election, which means he’s indebted to them, said Worcester. And “you dance with the ones that brought you there.”

     Time will tell, he surmised, but “it’s a long dance card with a big dance floor and a lot of tunes to be played.”

     Union membership in Maryland, however, isn’t skyrocketing. In 2006, only 13.1 percent of workers were union members, down from 13.3 percent in 2005 and from 14.1 percent in 1998, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

     “Unions today aren’t the unions of the 20s and 30s,” said Del. Robert A. Costa, a Republican from Anne Arundel County. “It’s no different from the American Cancer Society. It’s a special interest group that debates and lobbies a specific issue.”

     But that doesn’t mean the role of unions has changed, said Susan J. Schurman, president of Silver Spring’s National Labor College, the only accredited higher education institution devoted to teaching union leaders, members and activists.

     “When workers form or join a union, then they can collectively bargain with employers,” she said.

     Schurman said there’s actually an increase in the number of private and public technology workers who want labor contracts, which may be important with Maryland moving from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge-based one.

     The two big growth areas in union organizing are people at low-wage service economy jobs — janitors and day laborers — and those in occupations like engineering and social work, said Schurman, who has led the college for 10 years.

     Worcester is skeptical.

     “Labor is maladaptive,” he said. “They can’t adapt to the changing world economy, the leadership won’t let them.”

     But approximately 600 students study at the National Labor College each year — steadily increasing over the last couple of years. In addition to courses, it holds trainings on safety, arbitration and bargaining.

     The college was established in 1969 as an AFL-CIO training center, and in 1997 began offering bachelor’s degrees. The college expanded its campus in October with a new facility that includes an 8,000-square-foot hall, new dining facilities and 17 class and meeting rooms. O’Malley attended the center’s February dedication.

     And while it’s a private institution, the college receives state funds through a Maryland Higher Education Commission program that provides aid to non-public institutions. In fiscal year 2006, the college received over $575,000.

     Worcester doesn’t believe there’s any justification for Maryland taxpayers to be funding the college. Tuition costs are higher for non-union individuals and an extremely low number of students are actually from Maryland, he said.

     O’Malley disagreed, saying “it makes sense for any state to invest in its workforce.”

     Twenty-eight percent of students enrolled in credit and non-credit courses during the fall 2006 term were state residents, according to the college. Students range from senior leaders to rank and file members, said Schurman

     Costa isn’t as concerned, though he admits he’s not familiar with the college.

     “If the whole purpose is to teach labor leaders to be good workers then there’s no problem,” he said. “But if it’s solely to circumvent democracy and keep folks working to try to get more for less, it’s not a good thing.”  <