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Donald Brown, who has worked for 20 years for the Prince George's County Department of Transportation, is about to face his second round of furloughs. With four children to care for, Brown isn't sure whether he or his coworkers can handle another 10 days of unpaid leave.

"It affects mortgage payments, daycare and car payments," he said. "This is money we count on."

Brown, along with 50 members of a local labor union, rallied June 10 outside the County Administration Building protesting the Prince George's County plan to lay off 55 people starting July 1.

Facing layoffs, a three-week reduction in family and medical leave and the removal of the living wage, Council 67 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees hoped County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) would hear their pleas, as they chanted and marched for about an hour.

"We're hoping that Jack intercedes," said C.J. Ross of Virginia, a former administrator for AFSCME.

With a $113 million deficit caused by tanking real estate sales and other economic conditions, county officials voted June 1 to lay off employees to help balance costs.

The county's other 6,000 workers will be forced to take 10 days of unpaid leave to balance the shortfall when the fiscal year begins July 1.

"Layoffs affect everyone, especially when you don't know who will be laid off," said Brown, 41,

Brown said he had lived in Prince George's all his life and owned a home in Morningside but was forced to move his family to Charles County last year, due to increasing taxes.

"The county isn't looking out for the little people or those in the middle income," he said. "We were pushed out of the county."

Almost every county department is also cutting spending by about 10 percent and will continue a hiring freeze.

The upcoming $2.6 billion budget year marks the first time since the 1990s that the government has terminated workers, but the cuts were well short of the hundreds Johnson had initially proposed. Last-minute moves to siphon money from the county school system and Maryland National-Capital Park and Planning Commission helped scale back the job losses.

County officials have been unable to say who will lose their jobs under the cuts, saying each department head will make a decision. Johnson spokesman John Erzen emphasized that the layoffs have been drastically scaled back.

"We didn't want to have to lay anybody off. Even one is unfortunate," Erzen said before the rally. "But we were able to do a lot of things to reduce our original numbers. Going from 307 down to 55 is a very good thing."

Though the original cuts also included county firefighters and police, officials say the 55 "reductions in force" are more likely to hit county secretaries, public works employees and other jobs whose members fall under AFSCME.

Union members are also concerned that their living wage will be eliminated. The living wage sets the minimum wage for county employees at $12 an hour, rather than the state's minimum of $7.35 per hour.

"They are trying to pay McDonald's wages, Wendy's wages … and we say no," said Glenard S. Middleton, executive director of AFSCME Council 67.

E-mail Megan McKeever at

mmckeever@gazette.net.