Trumka: 'You Have Been Heard'

On a day when police and city officials were expecting 5,000 labor supporters in downtown Annapolis, turnout exceeded those projections.

A coalition of groups, including the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA), marched on the Maryland State House asking legislators to do one thing: "keep the promise."

Labor supporters started the evening at and marched down Rowe Boulevard, closing it down to traffic. Early in the march, one AFSCME organizer pegged turnout somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000.

However, by the time the rally at Lawyers' Mall began, the very same organizer said his initial estimate was nowhere near accurate.

Throngs of crowds stretched from the epicenter in front of the State House to the College Creek bridge and beyond. Adam Mendelson, director of public affairs for MSEA, said turnout was more along the lines of 15,000, roughly triple the number of protesters that the city had anticipated.

The rally was organized to call on legislators to abandon a $100 million planned cut to education funding and a proposed reform of teachers' pensions. Although the Maryland legislature is controlled by Democrats, and Gov. Martin O'Malley is generally viewed as a friend of unions, that didn't stop thousands from marching on the capitol.

The rally was headlined by Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, which represents more than 12 million American workers. 

While the march was organized around specific proposed cuts, Trumka warned that the days' events should be seen as part of the larger fight.

"Madison is just the beginning, this right here is only the beginning, you ain't seen nothing yet," said Trumka before an energized and cheering crowd. "Scapegoating teachers and public workers is bad policy and it's flat ass wrong."

Trumka said the larger fight remains between the "haves" and the "have nots."

"When the rights of workers in one state can be stolen, all of us should feel a little less secure," said Trumka. "This is about the corporate CEO agenda that equals more, more, more for them and less, less, less for us."

With labor battles sprouting up throughout the midwest, Trumka remained optimistic that the people will prevail.

“Together, we're a movement,” said Trumka. “We stand for our children and grandchildren, and tonight, you have been heard.”

After Trumka left the stage to raucous applause, protesters were surprised by an impromptu appearance by O'Malley, a self-proclaimed staunch union advocate. While a labor rally would normally be a home-game for the governor, he was instead met with chants of “keep the promise” as he took the stage, and was unable to begin speaking until the chants died down.

The governor tried to sympathize with the protesters.

“I don't like this budget either,” said O'Malley.

But halfway through his remarks, O'Malley was stopped again by chants and screams, eventually having to ask the crowd to quiet down so that he could finish. The second-term governor reminded the crowd that he is a labor supporter, and that they aren't in Wisconsin, where fundamental collective bargaining rights have been stripped.

“You won't find in Maryland the sort of Midwestern repression that's present in Wisconsin and Ohio,” O'Malley said. “I've never walked away on you.”

National figures weren't the only ones in attendance.

Many state legislators, who had a session scheduled later in the evening, could be seen walking the grounds. Del. Bob Costa (R-Deale) was watching the rally with a smile.

“This is how America is still around,” said Costa, pointing to the crowd. “Because of things like this, without the fear of violence [against protesters].”

The Maryland State Capitol Police, who headed the event's security, worked with other law enforcement agencies, including the Maryland State Police and the Annapolis Police Department. However, even with a crowd that superseded all expectations, the march remained peaceful and arrest-free.

“There were no incidents during the rally, and everything went very smoothly,” said Sam Cook, director of the Annapolis Public Buildings and Grounds Division of the Department of General Services in an e-mail.

As buses rolled out of the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium after the rally, taking protesters back to their homes, stragglers walking down Rowe Boulevard were still ringing bells and chanting one thing: “keep the promise.”