![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redphoenixnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/union.jpg\" "\\"union\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nThousands of union members rallied before the State House on Monday night, vowing to protect their employee pensions and public school funding.<\/span><\/p>\n Protesters filled Lawyer\u2019s Mall, immediately in front of the State House, where they stood among the shrubs planted in front of the governor\u2019s mansion and packed Bladen Street.<\/span><\/p>\n Taking part were members of the state\u2019s largest unions, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Maryland State Education Association, which represents teachers. They rang bells, banged plastic thunder sticks and chanted \u201cKeep the promise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gov. Martin O\u2019Malley has proposed changes to address a troubling $19 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $16 billion in retiree health liabilities. It would require increased contributions from state employees.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is the guy that likes you, and look what he\u2019s doing to you,\u201d said Thomas Corkran, a retired corrections maintenance officer, who spent 21 years teaching Maryland inmates to do repairs on state buildings.<\/span><\/p>\n O\u2019Malley, a Democrat, also cut $94 million from the state\u2019s public schools in the budget plan he submitted to the General Assembly in January.<\/span><\/p>\n Those moves brought a mix of long-time state workers and teachers pouring in along Bladen Street Monday night.<\/span><\/p>\n But when cast against Wisconsin \u2014 where Republican lawmakers stripped collective bargaining rights for state workers \u2014 and states considering similar measures, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka lauded O\u2019Malley.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUnlike the other places, like Wisconsin and Ohio, that are trying to destroy the workers\u2019 right to sit down and collectively bargain this governor understands us,\u201d said, in an interview before the rally.<\/span><\/p>\n When asked why he was joining in the protest against O\u2019Malley and the Legislature, which is overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats, Trumka said it was \u201cpart of the process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The thousands of people who filled the streets was a departure for Annapolis, where protests have been frequent during this year\u2019s 90-day session of the General Assembly, but much smaller.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d said Department of General Services Secretary Alvin Collins, as he watched union members march from the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium almost a mile away.<\/span><\/p>\n Patrick Moran, director of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said he expected more than 5,000 and as many as 10,000.<\/span><\/p>\n