On Thursday, September 30th, higher education members of AFSCME Council 3 came together for a rally to kick off our fight for a raise and to negotiate our first consolidated contract with the University System of Maryland. Over 75 members from different campuses across the USM met on zoom to discuss how to prepare for contract negotiations and hear from elected officials about the plan to override Senate Bill 9.
Before the virtual rally, AFSCME members spoke out at a press conference urging the USM to negotiate now because of the many issues created by negotiating multiple contacts. Read the full press release here. AFSCME released a report detailing wage disparities within the USM which could be remedied by a consolidated contract. Read press coverage of the event here!
Every campus will be starting a Higher Education Action Team (HEAT) which will work together to prepare for contract negotiations. Now that we’ve finally won the right to have one contract for all USM universities and now we need to get ready. Members of the HEAT are committing to:
- Work to build my union by signing up new members
- Mobilize my co-workers to support the union.
- Communicate to my coworkers about the union and I will listen to my coworkers and communicate back to my union.
- Make sure our current union contract is respected
- Fight until we win a great consolidated contract
Turn up the HEAT today and commit to your union and the fight for a first contract.
On Thursday, we were also joined by legislators who are supporting our override of Senate Bill 9 which grants us the right to negotiate one consolidated contract. When the veto is overridden, the USM will have 30 days before the law goes into effect. We need to be ready to meet them at the table! Thank you to Senator Ben Kramer, Senator Nancy King, Senator Sarah Elfreth, and Delegate Tony Bridges for joining members on Thursday.
Stay tuned for updates on the fight for a raise and one strong and fair contract.
