Tag: labor
Maryland’s labor shortage may mean a lack of skilled workers for the Key Bridge rebuild
Despite Maryland’s low unemployment rates, employers are struggling to fill job vacancies and the workforce’s blue-collar sector is especially stressed.
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Four-day work week bill aims to give workers and businesses more flexibility
The bill, HB 0181, introduced by Del. Vaughan Stewart, D-Montgomery, would allow private businesses to opt into a four-day, 32-hour work week pilot program that would include technical assistance from the Maryland Department of Labor and a tax credit of up to $10,000 in exchange for their participation in a study of the program’s success.
Read MoreTeacher labor panel bill gaining speed in Annapolis
Teachers would be able to take labor disputes beyond the respective boards of education that control their salaries, under a controversial bill gaining speed in both the House and Senate.
Even opponents to the bill, which would create a neutral third party to handle disputed negotiations for teachers statewide, call the measure “greased lightening.” Foes argue that the bill will take spending authority away from local decision makers, though there is a provision that allows counties not to fund pay hikes.
Read MoreAnalysis: Big hole in jobless fund created legislative battle
Two numbers illustrate why changing unemployment insurance is such an important part of the legislative agenda for business, labor and Gov. Martin O’Malley this session.
Last February, Maryland’s unemployment insurance trust fund had $680 million in it. A year later it holds just $50 million, and is paying out $20 million a week to the jobless.
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