More than 400 University of Maryland community members rallied on Hornbake Plaza Wednesday to urge this university and the University System of Maryland to recognize graduate student workers’ right to unionize.
Rally organizers demanded this university and the university system collectively bargain with this university’s Graduate Labor Union, which would allow workers to negotiate wages, hours and other conditions.
“We are organized. We’re motivated, and whether it’s this rally or whether it’s something else, we’re willing to do what it takes in order to win our union and to meet UMD at the bargaining table, because the stakes really are just too high for us not to,” Graduate Labor Union organizer Aryn Schriner told The Diamondback.
Wednesday’s rally began with chants and speeches from GLU organizers and other graduate students.
Organizers dropped a 60-foot-long red banner with stamps out of a window on the top floor of Hornbake Library. Each of the stamps on the banner represented one graduate student worker who has signed a union authorization card, Schriner said.
A majority of graduate student workers at this university have signed union authorization cards in support of unionization, according to Schriner.
Voluntary recognition from this university and the university system is the “easiest” way to secure bargaining rights and “sidestep” the lengthy legislative process behind unionization, Schriner said.
Voluntary recognition is when an employer chooses to recognize employees’ choice to unionize based on a showing of majority support without a formal election, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
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In recent years, this university’s administration has testified against bills in the Maryland General Assembly that would grant students formal collective bargaining rights. Maryland state law currently does not extend these rights to graduate student workers.
This university has recently increased graduate assistant stipends, expanded the parental accommodation policy and plans to double university supported graduate housing by fall 2026.
“The university administration continues to work closely with the Graduate Student Government, the Graduate Assistant Advisory Council, and other student groups to identify student concerns and work to find common ground in advancing improvements,” according to a statement from this university to The Diamondback.
During Wednesday’s rally, attendees marched throughout campus in support of the group’s continued unionization efforts.
“You and me know that if they deny us, this is not going away,” Schriner said to the crowd before marching to McKeldin Mall. “The will of over 2,500 graduate workers will not be ignored.”
Once the marchers arrived at the Main Administration Building, Schriner and emcee Anjali Verma attempted to enter the building to present senior vice president and provost Jennifer King Rice with a letter signed by more than 400 students demanding voluntary recognition. They were met with locked doors, which prompted boos from the crowd.
GLU organizer Emma Bentley told The Diamondback that negotiating higher wages is a priority for her. Most graduate student workers make well below a living wage, the library and information sciences graduate student said.
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“If we are denied, we will keep organizing,” Bentley said. “This will not stop here, this will not stop this week, this will not stop until we get our union.”
During the rally, organizers also emphasized the importance of international student rights.
The organization has been collecting signatures on an International Student Support petition that demands the removal of the International Student Fee and supports visa-related leave and expenses.
GLU organizer Rigby Philips told The Diamondback that about one-third of graduate workers are international students.
“We need to make sure that grads stand together and protect each other, because we know that the administration of this university will not protect those workers,” the history and library science graduate student said.
Since launching its authorization card campaign in fall 2023, the organization has had conversations with thousands of graduate student workers, Philips said.
“We want to reach every single corner of campus so that every grad worker knows what we can achieve together,” Philips said. “We’re confident that as we build on the ground, our voice will get louder and louder, and the University of Maryland will have no choice but to negotiate with us.”
