SNOW HILL– A local law enforcement organization is seeking collective bargaining for deputies in the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office.
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 50 sent the Worcester County Commissioners a letter in January requesting their support for the lodge’s efforts to obtain collective bargaining with binding arbitration. Bryn Blackburn, president of the lodge, said the group has received no reply from the county.
“We will keep pushing for this,” Blackburn said. “We’re hoping the county commissioners will back us.”
Blackburn, who joined the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office nearly five years ago after working in Baltimore County, said FOP Lodge 50 has been looking into collective bargaining for years. He said members had voted to pursue it now in an effort to get better pay, better benefits and better working conditions.
“Right now, the way things are with law enforcement and the changes the legislature has done, taking away the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights and creating the police accountability board, labor contracts are important to help us deal with new regulations and laws,” Blackburn said. “This isn’t strictly about better benefits and better pay. We can negotiate for better working conditions also.”
When asked if deputies were complaining about their working conditions, Blackburn said they were not but noted that deputies were paid less than law enforcement officers elsewhere. He said a deputy at step six in Worcester County was making about $58,000 a year while the comparable position with Maryland State Police paid about $80,000. He said officers in Ocean City were also paid more than deputies in the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office.
“They’re having trouble recruiting,” he said. “Other agencies, they’re all down.”
He said fewer and fewer people were interested in law enforcement these days, particularly in Maryland with the legislation passed in 2021.
“There’s a lot of people that don’t want to go into police work, especially if they’re not going to be compensated at a good amount,” he said. “I don’t see how some of our younger guys support their families.”
He said Worcester would never be able to get to the pay level of Maryland State Police but that members of FOP 50 felt collective bargaining could help.
“We’re realists here,” he said. “We know that even with collective bargaining they’re not going to bump it $20-$25,000, but each year maybe they a can bring it up a little bit more.”
Though the commissioners have not responded to the letter, Blackburn said even with their support the request would still have to go through the state legislature.
“We’re hoping to hear something soon, have a sit down and see what we can work out,” he said.
When asked about collective bargaining and how it could help deputies this week, Sheriff Matt Crisafulli pointed to the fact that there were multiple parties involved.
“The process for collective bargaining is a process between the Fraternal Order of Police and the county commissioners,” Crisafulli said. “I enjoy the partnerships with both entities.”
Commissioner Chip Bertino, president of the Worcester County Commissioners, also had little to say.
“We are in receipt of the letter,” he said.
Commissioner Caryn Abbott said she could only say what she’d already said to Blackburn.
“I’m still of the belief that working towards fixing the underlying issues is the direction I would like to see personally in hopes that we don’t need to go to collective bargaining with binding arbitration,” she said. “That’s what I’ve said all along will continue to do so.”
