By Adam Pagnucco.
In a classic man-bites-dog story, a county employee union is attacking County Executive Marc Elrich. And why? The union alleges that Elrich doesn’t want its members to be well paid.
How banana cakes is that?
First, county employee unions have been as loyal to Elrich as any of his other often-fervent supporters. He has been on the Apple Ballot in every election since 2002 and has collected almost every meaningful union endorsement in the county since then. He has responded by voting for and later negotiating generous union contracts throughout his long career in office.
Elrich lists his many union endorsements in a 1994 mailer. That’s right, folks – from 1994.
But a recent exception emerged related to contracts he does not negotiate: the ones at Park and Planning. As I explained in a recent post, Elrich’s recommended FY26 operating budget increase for the Parks Department was not large enough to cover the amount of money that the department had set aside to cover compensation cost increases. Parks is in negotiations with its unions but typically reaches settlements with them approximating county government contracts.
That triggered the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 30, which represents park police. Here is what the union posted on X.
A county union using a poop emoji against Elrich. What’s next – Donald Trump passing an economics course?
Here’s a prediction: Parks will get its money. The difference at hand ($1.3 million) is a rounding error in a $7.7 billion budget. But what does this say about Elrich’s relationship with labor?
My guess is not much. The teachers union, by far the most powerful union in the county, is happy with Elrich’s recommended MCPS budget. MCGEO, the largest union at Park and Planning as well as the non-MCPS side of county government, has not publicly gone after Elrich over the parks budget. Elrich just gave most MCGEO members raises exceeding 6% in his county government budget recommendation. Elrich had a nasty spat with the fire fighters union over fire chief nominee Charles Bailey last year, but that seems to have blown over. So I expect the overwhelming majority of labor to be on board with Elrich’s run for council next year.
But hey folks, when any union uses a poop emoji against Elrich, it’s time for a fun blog post!