Salisbury Mayor Criticizes Petition Effort for Collective Bargaining
SALSIBURY, Md. – The Mayor of the City of Salisbury is criticizing recent petition efforts aimed at getting collective bargaining on the voting ballot next fall.
As WMDT previously reported, the Salisbury City Council voted 3-2 on May 26 to repeal the City’s union ordinance, effectively ending union representation for city employees. The decision was met with backlash from the public, particularly from families of the Salisbury Police and Fire departments who were previously represented by the union. However, City leaders maintain that the union ordinance placed a financial burden on the municipal budget.
Following the union dissolution, union leaders launched a grassroots movement to bring the issue of collective bargaining to the people. Union leaders say they are hoping to get enough signatures to bring the issue to the ballot for a referendum next fall. To qualify, the petition must receive signatures from 20 percent of City’s registered voters, leading local organizers to begin canvassing Salisbury’s neighborhoods. Yet, some are at odds with the process, including Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor.
In an open letter released Thursday evening, Taylor criticized the state-level arm of AFSCME, also known as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, for having funded $180,000 to contract canvassers, in part from out of state.
“These individuals are not City employees nor City residents yet they are now shaping a narrative about Salisbury’s internal operations,” Mayor Taylor wrote in the letter. “That alone should give residents pause.”
WMDT spoke with the Eastern Shore chapter on AFSCME on Friday afternoon, who maintained that funding canvassers is a routine part of grassroots organizing.
“[Taylor] needs to let the folks do what they do. I mean, he’s done, he did something very unpopular,” said Jack Hughes, an AFSCME Field Representative. “It took the collective bargaining away from the employees of the city. Now he needs to have it. Let them do what they got to do to, you know, the right to get the petitions and take it to a referendum.”
The mayor also alleges petition canvassers are telling residents that the “Mayor/City has stolen money from the [Salisbury Fire Department] and given it to the [Salisbury Police Department (SPD)].” Taylor strongly condemned the claim, calling it a lie, reckless, divisive, saying the rumors have “no place in a serious conversation about public policy.” The claims come after SPD raised starting salaries by nearly $15,000 just after the elimination of collective bargaining and following weeks of criticism surrounding the department’s pay compared to its local law enforcement counterparts.
“I have zero patience for misinformation and zero respect for tactics that pit one department against another or tricking residents into a false narrative,” Taylor continued. “Salisbury’s public safety agencies deserve better than to be used as props in a fabricated narrative.”
Hughes told WMDT that he cannot comment to the mayor’s claims about rumors spread during canvassing efforts.
“The real debate before us is not about whether we value our employees or support public safety, we absolutely do,” Mayor Taylor concluded. “The debate is about affordability, sustainability, and whether the collective bargaining model as structured and as demanded aligns with the City’s long-term financial reality.”
