Effort aims to prevent port layoffs

Legislature OKS funds for retention program

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced on Friday the start of a program to help Port of Baltimore businesses keep employees in the aftermath of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.

The $12.5 million program aims to prevent layoffs while recovery work continues. The program was created by executive order and authorized by emergency legislation the governor signed on Tuesday.

“We must do everything in our power to support the 8,000 port workers whose jobs have been directly affected by the collapse of the Key Bridge — and the thousands more who have been touched by this crisis,” Moore, a Democrat, said in a news release.

The program is being run by the state’s labor department.

“The Worker Retention Program will keep Port businesses in operation and workers able to earn income and support their families as the U.S. Army Corps and others work to get the shipping channels reopened,” said Maryland Secretary of Labor Portia Wu.

Under the program, entities

eligible for up to $200,000 in grants include businesses that employ up to 500 workers, unions, trade associations and organizations that have had operations hindered or halted by the port slowdown.

Up to $7,500 can be spent per worker on wages or other support.

Businesses that receive funding under the program must demonstrate an effort to the fullest extent to

avoid layoffs and maintain workforce hours, rates of pay, and benefits that were in effect before the port’s reduced operations.

The container ship Dali was leaving Baltimore, laden with cargo and headed for Sri Lanka, when it struck one of the bridge’s supporting columns last month, causing the span to collapse into the Patapsco River. Six members of a roadwork crew were killed.

Julia Nikhinson The Associated Press Workers use torches to break apart salvaged pieces of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge on Friday at Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point, Md.