Moore administration settles contracts with state unions — except AFSCME

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Gov. Wes Moore‘s administration reached contract agreements with six of seven unions representing state employees by its Dec. 31 deadline. One was conspicuously missing: the largest state worker guild.

“These economic agreements represent an important step and are the result of months-long good-faith negotiations, reflecting a shared commitment between the State and its labor partners,” Moore, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Our goal has always been to balance fair compensation with fiscal discipline. At a time when families and governments are both facing real financial pressures, the State of Maryland is continuing to prioritize the employees who work in service of Marylanders every day.”

Although the administration reached agreements with the Maryland Professional Employees Council, the American Federation of Teachers, the State Law Enforcement Officers Labor Alliance, the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Fire Fighters, it failed to settle a contract with the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents 26,000 state workers.

In its list of 2026 contract priorities, AFSCME said it wants to see state employee pay keep pace with inflation rates, as well as salary step increases and job security provisions.

According to a Monday news release from AFSCME, the contract proposal the Moore administration offered did not include wage increases aligned with inflation, nor did it fully correct wage scales for unionized workers that lag behind other state employees.

Last month, a Moore administration official told The Daily Record that in his nearly three-year tenure, the average salary for AFSCME-represented workers has increased by 12.47%, while inflation increased by 8%.

The administration’s Monday news release said that the other six unions secured an average 2% pay increase for more than 11,000 state employees, which represents a $37 million investment in Maryland workers.

AFSCME said that it has additionally presented the governor’s office with proposals that could help raise revenue, reduce wasteful spending and combine duplicative state programs. The union said these measures could save millions of dollars as the state faces a more than $1 billion structural budget deficit for fiscal year 2027.

“Despite these efforts, the Governor has not embraced these suggestions,” AFSCME’s release reads.

Late last month, the union filed several Unfair Labor Practice charges against the Moore administration, ranging across agencies and topics like shift differentials, telework and military leave — all of which AFSCME Maryland President Patrick Moran said had been previously negotiated.