CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to better reflect that the new union contract will cover exempt and nonexempt employees within the bargaining unit.
University System of Maryland workers at nine institutions can now bargain under one contract with the university system after a new union agreement was signed Friday.
The three-year agreement signed in Baltimore will cover nearly 6,000 university system workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union.
This agreement is the first to allow the University of Maryland and eight other institutions to hold one contract with the university system. Before, workers separately bargained with their respective institutions.
“Everybody who works for us, including all the members of the union, are essential to serving the students,” university system Chancellor Jay Perman said. “If they’re happy, the students are better off.”
The Board of Regents approved the agreement at a special board meeting July 31 after more than 99 percent of AFSCME members supported the contract during a 10-day vote. The agreement became possible after the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation in 2021 that lets workers bargain under one systemwide contract.
[USM workers can now bargain under one contract after legislature overrides Hogan’s veto]
The contract increased the minimum salary to $38,000 per year, or about $18.22 an hour, according to Todd Holden, president of AFSCME Local 1072, a bargaining agent that represents more than 3,700 workers at the University of Maryland. Multiple raises, including merit and longevity raises, are scheduled for the agreement’s three-year period.
Jen Patterson, who worked in the arts and humanities college at this university, said they left their former position in part because of a lack of raises.
“[The agreement is] like protection for me, that my income is going to continue to grow and keep pace with the economy and not fall behind, like what happened to me before,” said Patterson, now an instructional technology specialist at this university and a shop steward, or union representative, at AFSCME Local 1072.
Some of the most important provisions outlined in the new agreement are about safety, according to Patrick Trujillo, a shop steward at AFSCME Local 1072 and an academic advisor in the university’s public policy school. This includes safety protections related to extreme heat illness and air quality, Trujillo said.
The protections will require campus-wide notifications to be sent out for hazardous heat and air quality, according to AFSCME Council 3, which represents more than 45,000 public sector workers in the state. The agreement will also require that KN95 masks be provided for outside workers during unsafe air quality alerts.
[UMD employees union rallies for consolidated collective bargaining, more Spanish accessibility]
Other safety provisions include allowing pregnant employees to request reassignment on par with their current pay if they are working in potentially harmful places.
Faculty, such as professors, are not covered by this agreement. The contract covers exempt, nonexempt or sworn police employees, depending on the institution. It covers exempt and nonexempt employees at this university within the bargaining unit.
The agreement does not cover three university system institutions — Salisbury University, Towson University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
“When workers get together and organize, they win,” Stuart Katzenberg, the growth and collective bargaining director at AFSCME Council 3, said. “Everyone should be in solidarity with the workers.”
