Behind every diploma are union workers. AFSCME represents over 6,000 staff throughout the University System of Maryland — from academic advisors to administrative assistants to groundkeepers and more — who serve our students and keep these campuses running.

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Here’s what’s happening:

  • The positions targeted for layoffs all directly served students, staff, and faculty and include a range of job titles across various departments.
    • In May, Bowie State University began issuing layoff notices for 21 AFSCME-represented positions.
    • On June 3, the University of Maryland College Park announced layoffs for 73 AFSCME-represented positions. 
  • Neither university attempted to explore other options, including reducing costly consultants or top-level administration, before laying off AFSCME members.
    • Both Bowie State University and the University of Maryland have cited record fundraising in recent years.
    • The universities also currently have excessively large endowment funds and state fund balances.
  • In this past legislative session, state leaders recognized the reduction in federal funds for higher education.
    • State leaders increased funding to the University System of Maryland (USM) to make up for this.

USM also attempted to withhold contractually agreed-upon merit increases for USM workers. Thankfully, Governor Moore made UMD honor our contract and follow through on the negotiated – and funded – raises. This happened because our members showed up to rallies, called their elected officials, signed petitions, and talked about the impact of these raises.

The fight is not over. We will continue to demand that the USM reverse the layoffs from earlier this summer.