Last week, we had two bargaining sessions with the University System of Maryland (USM), one on Zoom on Thursday, December 7 and one in-person on Friday, December 8.
After a marathon negotiations session on Friday that lasted until after midnight, we’re proud to say we’ve made significant progress in our negotiations! Some of the areas that we’ve come to a tentative agreement on include significant portions of a wage package and additional rights to build and grow our union.
There are still many areas where we have not come to an agreement, including around holidays, leave, health and safety, and contracting out work, but we’re hopeful we will continue to make progress.
It’s clear that the USM is feeling the pressure to do the right thing. We will continue to hold the USM accountable and let USM management know that they cannot claim to be a model employer publicly and then turn around and ignore our concerns and treat us with disrespect.
Our next bargaining session is this Wednesday, December 13, and we will be scheduling additional sessions for after the holidays. Please stay tuned for the next update. Here’s to fighting for the fair contract that we deserve!