http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-workers0927,0,5354363.storyBy James Drew | Sun reporter
2:42 PM EDT, September 27, 2007
Members of Maryland public workers union said today that any efforts to cut retiree health care benefits would harm efforts to recruit and retain state employees.
"This is not the time to make our work less desirable," said Flo Jones, a foster care social worker for the Baltimore Department of Social Services and recording secretary of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 112. "We need to work to attract and keep staff, not drive them off. Taking away our retiree health care will do just that."
About 25 AFSCME members and retirees gathered for a news conference today in Annapolis, half an hour before a meeting of a state commission that is studying retiree health care funding options.
Last year, the General Assembly formed the Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Retiree Health Care Funding Options to review health care benefits that state employees and retirees receive, and how they are funded.
The commission has a Dec. 31, 2008, deadline to release a report.
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