(Washington, D.C.) – The Maryland General Assembly scored a significant victory for working families by voting to override Governor Robert Ehrlich's veto of the Fair Share Health Care Act. By a margin of 30 to 17 in the Senate and 88 to 50 in the House, this important measure now becomes law without the Governor's signature.

The Fair Share Health Care Act, passed last year by large majorities, requires businesses in the state with more than 10,000 employees to dedicate eight percent of their payroll costs to health care for their workers or contribute an equal amount to a public health care fund. The measure is strongly opposed by Wal-Mart because it will force the company to cease its practice of refusing to provide meaningful health insurance for its workers, who often have to turn to public assistance for health care.

"The Old Line State has drawn a new line in the sand for corporate scofflaws like Wal-Mart," said Teamsters General President James Hoffa. "This victory will reverberate far beyond the State of Maryland, as it marks the first step in the Teamsters' nationwide effort to enact Fair Share Health Care legislation in every state."

Dennis Taylor, Principal Officer of Joint Council 62 in Baltimore, echoed the sentiment of more than 30,000 Maryland Teamsters. "Those legislators who voted for the override today took a bold step for working families and against corporate malfeasance," Taylor said. "It is only because Teamsters answered the call to contact their delegates and senators that we were able to defeat Wal-Mart's multi-million dollar lobbying machine."

Enacting Fair Share Health Care legislation in state houses across the nation tops the Teamsters' legislative agenda. "While we celebrate today's victory, the Teamsters recognize that this is only the beginning of a nationwide effort," Hoffa said. "We're going to bring our message to state capitols from coast to coast—Stop Wal-Mart welfare, enact Fair Share Health Care!"

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.