ANNAPOLIS Gov. Martin O’Malley quietly signed two executive orders last week to unionize day care and in-home health care providers, after the General Assembly rejected similar legislation.
Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, signed the orders just before leaving for a weeklong vacation but made no official announcement except to list the orders on the administration Web site, which drew criticism from Republican lawmakers.
“I don’t think you’re going to find many people that will argue that we shouldn’t be paying our workers fair wages,” O’Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese said in response to the criticism.
The orders, similar to bills that failed in legislative committees over the past five years, allow private child care providers and in-home health care providers to bargain collectively with the state.
Republican lawmakers said Mr. O’Malley’s action was an “end-run” around the General Assembly.
“I think people thought maybe, because he was on vacation, we wouldn’t be checking on things,” said Senate Minority Whip Allan H. Kittleman, a Carroll and Howard counties Republican. He also serves on the Senate committee that rejected the child care worker bill in the past two years.
It remains unclear whether the orders violate the separation of powers between the governor’s office and the General Assembly. They are similar to those that Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat, issued in 1996 to allow state workers to unionize.
The Maryland Chamber of Commerce sued Mr. Glendening, but Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld the governor’s move, saying he acted within constitutional bounds.
It also remains unclear whether the ruling applies to Mr. O’Malley orders because the workers are contractors, not state employees.
Lorraine Sheehan, chairwoman of the advocacy group Medicaid Matters, said the in-home health care workers often get paid as little as $24.50 a day, which results in high turnover and poor care.
“Anything that could be done would be an increase in quality for the people receiving those services,” she said. “The caveat to this whole thing with the home care workers is that people with disabilities are very concerned that union rules could affect their management of their care.”
Mr. O’Malley received strong support from unions during his run last year for governor, though they criticized him for cutting jobs and vacant positions last month in the budget.
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